St George Illawarra in 2023

RedV01

RedV01

SGI NSW Cup
Morgan said:
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ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS YOUNG GUNS SOUND WARNING TO NRL ​

In 2022 St George Illawarra Dragons after upsetting the Rabbitohs to claim their first Charity Shield since 2011. Benji Marshall believes there are good signs that the Dragons could be headed back to the finals on the back of the right mix of youth and experience that Anthony Griffin now has at his disposal.

“There was a lot to like about the Dragons,” Marshall said. “They signed a lot of new players and they aimed up tonight. “I thought Jack Bird looked really happy, healthy and fit and had a great performance. “Some of their new signings looked really sharp, but the thing that impressed me the most was the ability of some of their young kids.

“Tyrell Sloan at fullback and Cody Ramsey on the wing. They were chopping and changing between their positions. “Also their young five-eighth was one of their best performers tonight Talatau Amone. A lot to look forward to for Dragons fans.” Corey Parker also paid tribute to Dragons skipper Ben Hunt who led from the front with a superb kicking game and controlled proceedings in Mudgee. “They look connected the Dragons,” Parker said.

“They have copped a lot of criticism over recent years and rightly so, but they look like a connected footy side. “We spoke about some of their key signings and having that experience. “Ben Hunt was exceptional at halfback. He was competing and it is infectious within the group. “I think they have great depth and when you have great depth you have players that are vying for spots. “They look like a footy team that has had a good summer and are ready for a big season.”
Gone from the spoon to the finals. Next step, top 4.
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The news as far as the perception of this team just keeps getting better.
 
GCRV

GCRV

SGI NSW Cup
No one should get over excited just yet. Unless for some major injury crisis involving several key players, there is no way this team is going to get the spoon but a little early or over optimistic to say top 4 material.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
Well I put my money where my mouth was and got $50 @ $5 for the dragons to make the top 8 after the 2 matches that's down to $3.75 today, money talks, dragons will be playing semi football this year fingers crossed depending on injuries, suspensions and covid scares. This year will test the depth of all clubs
 
Eric

Eric

Staff
jodragon40 said:
Well I put my money where my mouth was and got $50 @ $5 for the dragons to make the top 8 after the 2 matches that's down to $3.75 today, money talks, dragons will be playing semi football this year fingers crossed depending on injuries, suspensions and covid scares. This year will test the depth of all clubs
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Covid shouldn't be much of a problem. As far as I understand it, most of the squad has already been infected and now have natural immunity.
 
Eric

Eric

Staff
GCRV said:
No one should get over excited just yet. Unless for some major injury crisis involving several key players, there is no way this team is going to get the spoon but a little early or over optimistic to say top 4 material.
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Agree but not getting overexcited is one thing but some of the recent media coverage makes one-eyed fans look somewhat pessimistic by comparison. IMO some decent go-forward along with depth was the last thing we were missing. Getting rid of some dead wood was also important. Judging from the trails, we are no longer lacking go-forward or depth. And at least the highly paid deadwood is all gone. I can't see Alvaro for example getting an offer from any other clubs. Josh Kerr might get an offer. He rarely does anything bad but almost never does anything really good. Other than that, seems to me every member of the squad is ready to play NRL this year.

What more do we need to compete and beat the top teams?
  • Amone's playmaking to be near as good as his running game?
  • Sloan to play as well as he has in the trails throughout the year?
  • Defence to remain how it was in the trials?
I don't know what else but those three things are certainly doable.
 
Chris M

Chris M

SGI NSW Cup
Eric said:
Agree but not getting overexcited is one thing but some of the recent media coverage makes one-eyed fans look somewhat pessimistic by comparison. IMO some decent go-forward along with depth was the last thing we were missing. Getting rid of some dead wood was also important. Judging from the trails, we are no longer lacking go-forward or depth. And at least the highly paid deadwood is all gone. I can't see Alvaro for example getting an offer from any other clubs. Josh Kerr might get an offer. He rarely does anything bad but almost never does anything really good. Other than that, seems to me every member of the squad is ready to play NRL this year.

What more do we need to compete and beat the top teams?
  • Amone's playmaking to be near as good as his running game?
  • Sloan to play as well as he has in the trails throughout the year?
  • Defence to remain how it was in the trials?
I don't know what else but those three things are certainly doable.
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One possibility is that Saints lack a player like Trbojevic, Mitchell, Fifita, Kikau or one of them who can be relied on to break X number of tackles every game.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
Eric said:
Agree but not getting overexcited is one thing but some of the recent media coverage makes one-eyed fans look somewhat pessimistic by comparison. IMO some decent go-forward along with depth was the last thing we were missing. Getting rid of some dead wood was also important. Judging from the trails, we are no longer lacking go-forward or depth. And at least the highly paid deadwood is all gone. I can't see Alvaro for example getting an offer from any other clubs. Josh Kerr might get an offer. He rarely does anything bad but almost never does anything really good. Other than that, seems to me every member of the squad is ready to play NRL this year.

What more do we need to compete and beat the top teams?
  • Amone's playmaking to be near as good as his running game?
  • Sloan to play as well as he has in the trails throughout the year?
  • Defence to remain how it was in the trials?
I don't know what else but those three things are certainly doable.
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You have hit the nail on the head. RL is not a very hard game to play or understand. It has always been vital in my opinion that you have forwards that can at least match the opposing forward pack, that places you on an even footing, this we haven't had for the last 3 yrs at least. As I said in another post if 3 out of the 6 forwards can run over 100m we will be competitive in any game. Rolling across the advantage line or at the very least making that line allows the room for your halves to play eyes up football. Yes you need structure and yes you have set plays but they are defendable, eyes up football allows the playmakers to create something out of nothing it is by far in my humble opinion the most destructive attacking play. In the last 3 yrs at least our playmakers have had no time to play this type of attacking football because they haver been playing off the back of a forward back going backwards. The name of the game is to score more points than the opposition. Defensive line speed has also been non existent in that timeframe as well, I was highly impressed with the line speed in the 79th minute of the charity shield game, that shows passion, commitment and a WILL to win. When we last won in 2010 defence was the key, defensive line speed and the tryline defence. It appears we are working our way back to that mindset. The team will have taken confidence in winning the two trial games both against team lauded to be in the top 6 so whilst acknowledging they were only trials it was satisfying to see those ingredients that make up to having a good season were prevalent in both those games.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
Chris M said:
One possibility is that Saints lack a player like Trbojevic, Mitchell, Fifita, Kikau or one of them who can be relied on to break X number of tackles every game.
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I disagree Sloan is our x factor I acknowledge he is young, inexperienced and well off his best years to come but in every game I have seen him play last season and so far this season he has placed himself in the position to make that line break he has that natural talent in attack that no coach can teach but can help mould. Dont be surprised to see him following our edge forwards who have the ability to break the tackle or bend the defensive line and turn the ball back inside the ruck area against tiring forwards to be an effective attacking tool this year.
 
Chris M

Chris M

SGI NSW Cup
jodragon40 said:
You have hit the nail on the head. RL is not a very hard game to play or understand. It has always been vital in my opinion that you have forwards that can at least match the opposing forward pack, that places you on an even footing, this we haven't had for the last 3 yrs at least. As I said in another post if 3 out of the 6 forwards can run over 100m we will be competitive in any game. Rolling across the advantage line or at the very least making that line allows the room for your halves to play eyes up football. Yes you need structure and yes you have set plays but they are defendable, eyes up football allows the playmakers to create something out of nothing it is by far in my humble opinion the most destructive attacking play. In the last 3 yrs at least our playmakers have had no time to play this type of attacking football because they haver been playing off the back of a forward back going backwards. The name of the game is to score more points than the opposition. Defensive line speed has also been non existent in that timeframe as well, I was highly impressed with the line speed in the 79th minute of the charity shield game, that shows passion, commitment and a WILL to win. When we last won in 2010 defence was the key, defensive line speed and the tryline defence. It appears we are working our way back to that mindset. The team will have taken confidence in winning the two trial games both against team lauded to be in the top 6 so whilst acknowledging they were only trials it was satisfying to see those ingredients that make up to having a good season were prevalent in both those games.
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Love your "scientific analysis" of this simple game but I wish you would use paragraphs to make it easier to read.
 
Chris M

Chris M

SGI NSW Cup
jodragon40 said:
I disagree Sloan is our x factor I acknowledge he is young, inexperienced and well off his best years to come but in every game I have seen him play last season and so far this season he has placed himself in the position to make that line break he has that natural talent in attack that no coach can teach but can help mould. Dont be surprised to see him following our edge forwards who have the ability to break the tackle or bend the defensive line and turn the ball back inside the ruck area against tiring forwards to be an effective attacking tool this year.
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X factor I agree with. Amone as well. He looked like he was biding his time, ready to cut loose at any time in the Charity Shield. I'm talking about a power running busting tackles. I'm a huge fan of Sloan but he won't be running over the top of many opposition players.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
Chris M said:
X factor I agree with. Amone as well. He looked like he was biding his time, ready to cut loose at any time in the Charity Shield. I'm talking about a power running busting tackles. I'm a huge fan of Sloan but he won't be running over the top of many opposition players.
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You don't have to run over defenders just evade them he will serve us well. Suli will run over a weak centre and the same with Rav over the winger. Sloan will be more of an evading cut through the line type of attacking player leaving defenders clutching fresh air. Amone has that step and ability to read the play so this year we have the options of starting attacking plays either side of the ruck
 
Chris M

Chris M

SGI NSW Cup
jodragon40 said:
You don't have to run over defenders just evade them he will serve us well. Suli will run over a weak centre and the same with Rav over the winger. Sloan will be more of an evading cut through the line type of attacking player leaving defenders clutching fresh air. Amone has that step and ability to read the play so this year we have the options of starting attacking plays either side of the ruck
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Sloan can evade defenders but if he is presented with a straight line, he won't be able to pick out one defender and run straight over the top. He's an outstanding player but not that kind of player. I thought Suli might be able to do it. In the Charity Shield he was certainly a handful for the defence but I didn't see him break the line and keep going. At least, I can't remember it happening.
 
Eric

Eric

Staff
Chris M said:
Sloan can evade defenders but if he is presented with a straight line, he won't be able to pick out one defender and run straight over the top. He's an outstanding player but not that kind of player. I thought Suli might be able to do it. In the Charity Shield he was certainly a handful for the defence but I didn't see him break the line and keep going. At least, I can't remember it happening.
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Won't surprise me to see Zac Lomax run over the top of a few guys this season.
 
Chris M

Chris M

SGI NSW Cup
Eric said:
Won't surprise me to see Zac Lomax run over the top of a few guys this season.
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Maybe Zac or Suli or Ravalawa. I hope so because if not, it might be one thing we are missing. I still thing we are good enough to beat the top teams.
 
jodragon40

jodragon40

Staff
Chris M said:
Sloan can evade defenders but if he is presented with a straight line, he won't be able to pick out one defender and run straight over the top. He's an outstanding player but not that kind of player. I thought Suli might be able to do it. In the Charity Shield he was certainly a handful for the defence but I didn't see him break the line and keep going. At least, I can't remember it happening.
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Suli is a handful so 1 on 1 he has the ability to beat his opponent, he actually set up Ramsay try . I can see a few more coming this season. Most teams will have a plan for 2 defenders available to tackle him or he will draw more than 1 defender to him. If he can develop an offload as well that's a plus
 
Morgan

Morgan

SGI NSW Cup
Chris M said:
One possibility is that Saints lack a player like Trbojevic, Mitchell, Fifita, Kikau or one of them who can be relied on to break X number of tackles every game.
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It's a balancing act. St George could throw 1.3 mil to get a one of those players but would it be better value than Sloan, Suli or Lomax? As other posters mentioned, there are several players in our team capable of running over the top of defenders. Sloan isn't one. At least not yet. It's easy to forget he is still only 19. He has at least another 5 kg to out in without even really trying. He isn't "small" or "diminutive" or whatever they used to love to describe Dufty as. Remember the way Ben Barba used to push off opposition with ease? Sloan is heavier than Ben Barba.
 
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