Round 18 vs Canberra Raiders
- Thread starter Eric
- Start date
Ryan
SGI NSW Cup
Is Weekes poor under the high ball? In the pre-season they were similar odds to us to make the 8 or win the GF. What has gone so wrong with Flanno?
Not sure but he looks to be on the shorter side. They've got a much better team. We're equal 8th on points, so close to top 8.
Dragons Chris
SGI NSW Cup
A bit misleading due to for and against and the number of byes we have had compared to other teams on the same points.
Dragons Chris
SGI NSW Cup
A few factors like their incredibly good run with injuries. Stuart put a lot of faith in young players and they have repaid his faith including in Tamale who Flanno didn't want. Thankfully it seems Flanno has finally started to learn from Stuart on this. But the biggest issue for Flanno is his dogged determination to have one player in the team who is very far from first grade standard. It appears to be ruining him.
Kyle played better than both eels halves last week, including Brown who'll earn more than a $1mil playing in the halves. Seems to be close to 1st grade standard.
Mug Fan
SGI NSW Cup
Jake H travelling with the team to get the FG feels.
Mailroomsgi
SGI Jersey Flegg
Sele late out with a calf strain, if he hasn’t had the tap on the shoulder yet. It’s time
He’s made of weetbix fortunately
He’s made of weetbix fortunately
Thats a shame, hopefully minor. I assume thats one of the things Flanno was hinting at in the presser regarding there will being be changes to the bench. Interesting to see who we end up fielding.
Looks like either fifita or lawrie according to the training pics. I hope it's fifita because that 1/2 combo off the bench with him and LPT would be exciting. We've already got guys in JDB/Klemmer/Guler who can play 50ish mins & Molo looks like he could handle 40ish mins.
Mug Fan
SGI NSW Cup
Both, Ray is out too
24-Hour Update: Hame Sele has been ruled out after straining a calf at training on Thursday. Raymond Faitala-Mariner (back soreness) has also dropped out of the squad. Michael Molo moves to starting second row with Blake Lawrie and Viliami Fifita moving from the reserves to the interchange. Nick Tsougranis and Jacob Halangahu remain in the 19-man squad with Lachlan Ilias the other name omitted 24 hours out from kick-off.
Jesus, another calf for hame. Should work out some sort of deal to get him off the books this off-season. Free up that roster spot. We've got a massive bench now. Pretty big pack, need every bit of that size.
Jesus, another calf for hame. Should work out some sort of deal to get him off the books this off-season. Free up that roster spot. We've got a massive bench now. Pretty big pack, need every bit of that size.
Good to see Nick and Jacob there at 18th and 19th man. It’s time to bring them in and prep for 2026
TheRev
SGI NSW Cup
Its a shame we couldnt move Sele on while he was briefly healthy.. but im not sure whos gonna buy him in 2026, noone can use an injured player.... i know hes been considering retirement.. but actually doing it a different thing.. this is some run of soft tissue injuries though.. and after the heart thing..
We actually need a few players like Sele though, good for both grades.. but not sure how this really plays out, we havent been good ast moving players on early, but we also need to a few first grade middles to replace him/jdb..
We actually need a few players like Sele though, good for both grades.. but not sure how this really plays out, we havent been good ast moving players on early, but we also need to a few first grade middles to replace him/jdb..
Can't we pay him out to free up his roster spot? Hopefully a SL team comes knocking..
TheRev
SGI NSW Cup
that was kind of my point though.. NRL or SL.. a continually injured player doesnt help either competition.. but yeah he is a good player if he comes good for them..
He has a contract with us though so its tricky.. not sure how many players we might be willing to pay out.. or if we could replace them.. rly keen to see if anything is changing in that space after tims podcast today.. i.e. could we actually get some momentum in that space.. dunno.
Dragon David
SGI Jersey Flegg
Poor Hame is injury prone. Came back to the Dragons in 2024 from Souths with an injury and has only been able to play 12 games for us since. During his time with us in 2017 and 2018 as a junior, he played 18 games. Hasn't given us value for money on his return and now that he has copped another calf injury, how long will it take for him to be injury free and get back to playing a game? I know injuries happen but boy having players off and not playing for longish periods makes me wonder what gives.
Why did we sign him for 3 years? Was he that much in demand and therefore agreed to sign him on a longer deal?
Because he has had so many injuries and has had some heart problems, it is very unlikely that another club would take him and I think he should do a Trent Merrin and retire even though Trent wasn't injured when he hung up his boots.
Our "desperate" signings have been going on for quite a few seasons. Now would be a good time to put that to bed and go for quality with a capitol Q.
Dragons Chris
SGI NSW Cup
Ok. I didn't really watch what they were doing but I'd be going crazy over the Dylan Brown signing if I supported Newcastle. Kyle didn't have a good game. More of the usual. Tries hard but lacks the talent. I thought LKT played well.