Dragons Chris
SGI NSW Cup
Sign players for the right money. No more Luciano Leilua debacles.
Recruitment & Retention 2027
- Thread starter jodragon40
- Start date
Agree we are in much better shape. I think DA and Flannagan make a good combo. Flannagan is a tight-arse who will keep our cap in good nick and knows what type of squad it takes to win a comp. DA has great contacts and is a genuine talent spotter who has hit the ground running and is pro-active, building the roster for the next 2 or 3 years.
But I also think the club had already done a lot of work on pathway recruitment prior to DA arriving. We've achieved great success recruiting for the St George pathway in particular, with Kyle Stanley picking up strong players from the Penrith comp. We've also had some success recruiting from QLD, NZ and Parra comps. When you add that to what's being nurtured through the Illawarra pathway I get the feeling we are very close to being a competitive club and when we get there we will stay there for many years.
AyiosYiorgos
SGI Jersey Flegg
You do realise that JakeH, LPT and Latu were Australian Schoolboys, you do realise we also signed Rokko Walker from RU who is a gun schoolboy and we also have signed a plenty of school kids like Burton, Champan etc..
Dragons Chris
SGI NSW Cup
DAs job is to manage the cap. Flanno's job is to coach.
Every coach in the NRL is involved in recruitment which affects the cap.
Dragons Chris
SGI NSW Cup
Flanno is involved, DA is in charge and has the final say.
Frank Facer
SGI Jersey Flegg
Flanno is also instrumental in who target we sign, like most first grade coaches are. Bennett and Bellamy would be the best examples.
Dragons Chris
SGI NSW Cup
Flanno has a say, DA is in charge and makes the final decision.
I remember reading somewhere Flanno was told the reason the club was hiring DA or looking to hire someone to do the job DA is doing is because Flanno has to concentrate on his coaching. I agree with this sentiment 100%.
Yeah mate I meant spine players who are arguably our positions in need right now. Otherwise we wouldn’t need to re-sign Cook. Sure DA is all over it anyway.
AyiosYiorgos
SGI Jersey Flegg
Ollie Burton (1 ) and Asher Chapman (9) are spine players.
GCRV
SGI NSW Cup
Future looks bright. But need a few things to go our way this year.
Frank Facer
SGI Jersey Flegg
I am quite sure all coaches are consulted on possible recruits and who is let go. Take when Ryles took over at Parra. It was said that he let Gutho go and planned to play Iongi at fullback.
When Flanno took over, I don't think we had a recruitment officer and Flanno was doing both jobs and setting up the "pathways" as well.
When David Fifita signed with Souths, it was said Bennett signed him.
AyiosYiorgos
SGI Jersey Flegg
100% Future does look bright, sure we have some gaps within the whole club but to think that DA and the staff aren't aware of it or are not making moves in the right direction is crazy, can't be fixed within 1 off season, we have the basis now, we just need to keep at it and develop or bring in where we are short..
TheRev
SGI NSW Cup
unfortunately you need some luck in recruitment also, especially for us cause we miss a lot of our targets just due to being a hard sell still... we easily could have had a couple of guns signed for 2026.. but had to not only sign em but sign em with their clubs permission to leave.. missing Sami was annoying.. warriors got in first.
assume were now looking for 2026 fillers.. noting that we signed 3 more ~19yr old kids today, plus that prop a few days back.. but still waiting to see who we can get last minute for 2026.. must be some guys close to being done.. cooloff shouldnt apply for a 2026 signing, we would need permission anyway.
assume were now looking for 2026 fillers.. noting that we signed 3 more ~19yr old kids today, plus that prop a few days back.. but still waiting to see who we can get last minute for 2026.. must be some guys close to being done.. cooloff shouldnt apply for a 2026 signing, we would need permission anyway.
jodragon40
Staff
It would appear unfortunately that unless the squad exceeds the expectations of the RL community we wont be playing semi finals football again this season.
Our spine is just not quite strong enough with real depth, the injury to Liddle was unfortunate but shows up our lack of a genuine dummy half replacement for Cook.
Unless of course we unearth a diamond in the rough. Alas I think that any such diamonds are still 2 seasons away. Im hoping for 10th this season. I hope I'm proven wrong.
Our spine is just not quite strong enough with real depth, the injury to Liddle was unfortunate but shows up our lack of a genuine dummy half replacement for Cook.
Unless of course we unearth a diamond in the rough. Alas I think that any such diamonds are still 2 seasons away. Im hoping for 10th this season. I hope I'm proven wrong.
TheRev
SGI NSW Cup
In terms of spine players in the pipeline, unfortunately there was a few years where we really dropped the ball with pathways, almost an entire generation of flegg/cup players werent quite up for it (Ben Rumble and Muhleisen for example, our best 1 and 9 prospects behind first grade that havent kicked on, and granted connor has a contract still and i do hope he comes good late).
But now that we are back on it again, and the army of steelers kids r rly starting to push.. you can see the quality difference in this next brigade vs the olds.. but there is still that missing generation of talent that is still hurting the whole pipeline.. and also is why we have this big gap in our forwards also between our veterans and all the 19-21yr olds.. there should be some 23 and 25yr old blokes in the mix too (Coric or Shereb etc).. but we have had to go external.
But now that we are back on it again, and the army of steelers kids r rly starting to push.. you can see the quality difference in this next brigade vs the olds.. but there is still that missing generation of talent that is still hurting the whole pipeline.. and also is why we have this big gap in our forwards also between our veterans and all the 19-21yr olds.. there should be some 23 and 25yr old blokes in the mix too (Coric or Shereb etc).. but we have had to go external.
jodragon40
Staff
Its about this time of the year that certain 1st grade players are told by their coaches that their roles within the 17 will be reduced. Time will tell if some or any would seek an immediate release.
TheRev
SGI NSW Cup
Assuming no miracles are rounding out the 2026 Roster, our only real shot is to have some real luck with injury, we do not have the quality of depth, and we will need to manage the young ones workloads.. probably gonna be tough but I rly do feel like 2027 might be the year we step into finals.. hoping we land one of the gun fullbacks soon.. these things need to be done 12mths out.
jodragon40
Staff
Absolutely agree
jodragon40
Staff
We are on the same page, I agree with all you have said. Age and experience will take you so far when we talk about the spine. I hope Atkinson proves me wrong and can game manage but speaking from experience it's a big ask considering the lack of genuine 7 1st grade time in the last 2 years.