Dragon David
SGI NSW Cup
Penrith are the Minor Premiers 2026 - $200,000 richer. Alex Johnson and Tom Jenkins share the Ken Irvine medal - 30 tries each. Wooden Spoon to the Mighty Dragons. Good to have won something for a change - 
Other Clubs in 2026
- Thread starter Morgan
- Start date
Eric
Staff
Jack de Belin officially not getting that extra year with the Eels. What a shame he didn't take the one year on offer from us. I guess no harm in backing himself but middle forwards very rarely play until the age Jack is now.
Anyway, apparently he's looking for a deal elsewhere. Not sure I believe it. There is backing yourself but this looks more like delusion. Be happy with the great career he had but now if he still wants a game that bad, Gerringong Lions would take him.
Anyway, apparently he's looking for a deal elsewhere. Not sure I believe it. There is backing yourself but this looks more like delusion. Be happy with the great career he had but now if he still wants a game that bad, Gerringong Lions would take him.
Zen
SGI Jersey Flegg
Atkinson and Muhleisen made him look like Emre Guler for that final try on the weekend. So slow sliding across. Even offering him a one year deal was a mistake. Thankfully Ryles seems dumber than Flanno somehow
TheRev
SGI NSW Cup
I'm not sure the $ numbers, but I was always thought the parra deal was crazy.. was advertised as being a 2yr deal.. but it was always 1 of them in the clubs favour.. at his age thats a 1yr deal.. he could have stayed a 1 club man.
Dave03
SGI NSW Cup
Glad we didn't keep him, he would've blocked the path of another youngster. We've done a good job of removing those poor-avg type older players.
Morgan
SGI NSW Cup
Still would've been better than Lawrie, Kerr or Gular but it was the right not to extend him and wrong to sign Gular and Kerr and Lawrie for that long.
Eric
Staff
Crazy and such a shame. I can't imagine the Eels were offering him more than us.
Dragon David
SGI NSW Cup
Unfortunately, JDB had only a few good highlights following his return after a long lay off through some other matter. He of course loved the Dragons and prior to the other matter, he did perform well for us, particularly in 2018 in my opinion. As you say Dave03, retaining him for another year would have blocked the path of a youngster coming through the system.
I don't think that JDB would have made any difference to the end result of the Dragons' 2026 season. All the best to him and his family.
Mailroomsgi
SGI NSW Cup
Dogs signing Connor Votano and Parra signing Leniu
Would love to know the figures for both, if dogs got Votano for peanuts it’s a good signing but my opinion of him has changed over the last 12 months
Lacks any really dynamism that you need as an NRL fullback IMO, Skillful but slow
We’ll see how it pans out
Would love to know the figures for both, if dogs got Votano for peanuts it’s a good signing but my opinion of him has changed over the last 12 months
Lacks any really dynamism that you need as an NRL fullback IMO, Skillful but slow
We’ll see how it pans out
TheRev
SGI NSW Cup
Over the years I always had Votano and Faulalo in the same camp.. untested in 1st grade, killing it in reserves.. killing us when we play em.. long queue in front at their club... I just wanted 1 of em ahead of Sloan... but we missed Faulalo in particular who now seems a class above anywhere 1-6... Votano I dunno, he did look the goods but havent seen him in 12mths or so.. maybe he ends up a ctr if not a fullback.. its a score for the dogs imo, an almost free shot at the stumps.. if he comes off they look a genius.. media dont even mention his name in terms of fullback options the dogs now have...
Justadragon
SGI NSW Cup
Are we all going to say the same thing about Gutho next year. I dont know where he fits in.
Eric
Staff
Have to disagree about JDB's input following his return. He came back not as good as he once was but still ran for a lot of metres, passed before the line and offloaded, though didn't offload nearly as often as he did before the "incident". Tackled a lot and very effectively and did it for a lot of minutes. What more could we ask for? But last year he was slipping.
As we saw last weekend, he's way behind the Couchman's and LPT as far as middle forwards go and that's with Stewart in the backrow. Then again, so are Gular, Lawrie and Kerr. As as result, I thought JDB could have gone around for one more year but as
TheRev said, no way he was going to be good for another 2. Such a shame he didn't take our one year offer and finish up as a Dragons player. If it was Flanno, not offering JDB 2 years was one of his few, if not only good call. It was Dan Anderson, have to say, a par for the course. Though I'm sure he'll make a mistake at some stage as well. It's the nature of the game.