Official Luke Thompson Signs for 2021

David holland

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Massive recruitment from the Bulldogs the signing of Luke Thompson, plus the outstanding recruitment of there recent purchases with limited funds last and this season, this current board are doing there job
 

David holland

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But I wouldn't mind the club having a crack at lyndsay Collins and Kane Evans ha ha
 

B-Train

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One thing that stands out is that he has great footwork which is always key with the upper echelon of forwards in the NRL. Especially for a prop...

If he can develop his passing game and pop an offload every now and then, that would create overlaps with the attention he draws and semi breaks he will make. I think he'll be a handful for teams and he can quickly make an impact the same way Graham, Bateman, Whitehead and Burgess have in recent years.
 

no1bulldog

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Club putting out this signing news to soften the blow of the pending announcement of Elliott’s 3yr contract extension lol
 

bricktamland

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Luke Thompson has decided to move on from the club when his contract expires at the end of the 2020 season.
Saints Chairman Eamonn McManus stated:

“We were informed last week that Luke has decided to join Canterbury Bulldogs next season.

“We accept and totally respect Luke’s decision and wish him nothing but success in his career and in his life. We are absolutely sure that he will be absolutely committed to the Club and to his teammates for the rest of this season.

“There’s no hiding from the fact that this is a bitter disappointment to all of us as Luke has been connected to the Club since the age of 11 and has developed into an absolute top player at 24 years old.

“If ever he decides to return to England and to Super League then there would be a red carpet waiting for him at St.Helens.”

Thompson is a product of the Saints Academy having been at the club since the age of 11.

The 24-year-old has made 158 appearances for the Saints scoring 25 tries and has won three League Leaders’ Shields in 2014, 2018 and 2019 as well as two Super League Grand Final rings in 2014 and more recently in 2019 – in a game which he took home the Harry Sunderland Trophy.

He will look to add to that record in 2020 as he sees out the final year of his contract with the club
The start of many signing imo... we will be quiet but pounce .. a lot
Of good players to purchase but this period of hard ship has galvanised the players .. they are tough and look at the players like remis smith, Lachlan Lewis, wakeham, just to name a few. I’m exited for this year plus half the team will be wanting a new cotract so we could see a shining year :grinning:
 

Cappuccino

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now we just need to get rid of this crew and we'll be back on track

 

Kurrupt78

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I don’t remember, but wasn’t Wamsley on our radar as well? Or was it one or the other type scenario? Just curious.
 

Alan79

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Lets hope he can bring that will to win like Bateman did at Canberra. We really need someone that refuses to lose and drags the rest of the team with him.

I haven't seen enough of him to know if he is that type of player but looking at his achievements and reports today it looks like he might have it in him.
I agree with all of this. Part of what we've lacked in the last couple of years was the players of a calibre to make a difference coupled with the desire to do so on every play. I really missed the attitude of Ennis, Graham and Reynolds after they left. They weren't always able to break a game open individually, but they fired those around them up in a huge way by refusing to take a backwards step when a lot of others started to look like they were ready for a shower. I haven't seen much of Thompson aside from the clips posted here, but he seems to be one of those players that isn't tackled easily. His ability to make post contact metres seems similar to Klemmers and I hope he offers this in every game. It really makes it difficult for the opposition to set their defensive line quickly and is a huge asset. His fotwork looks good too.

I'd say that Thompson, Jackson, Napa, DWZ etc are the players in our crop for 2021 that seem to have that will to win. Lewis has shown glimpses of it as have Cogger and (this will be taken controversially) Elliott. Sometimes winning isn't all about being the more skilled team, it's about having the determination to make the opposition back down. I'm liking how our roster is developing as we approach 2021.
 

Alan79

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You're right about expectation. And the board will be aware of this too - they will be facing another election in February 2022, so if we don't make the 8 this year (I think we can) we definitely need to make it in 2021.
Agree best available for the job. Whether or not that's Dean will largely be up to him and how we get out of the gates this year.
Most clubs have multiple coaches now - assistants, forwards coaches, backs coaches, halves coaches, kicking coaches etc - I wouldn't pay too much attention to that.
A head coach is largely also responsible for strategy including juniors, recruitment/retention etc - not just the game plan for each game. One bloke doesn't and couldn't do it all - even if you're Robinson or Bellamy.
Agree with this. I like that we're bringing in some of the guys who have served us well in the past in the bargain. aside from the obvious added skillsets that some of our additional coaching staff bring, it's an advantage that they're also going to carry some passion for the club and hopefully to instill that into the new players coming through. It seems like a couple of the newer guys we have here in DWZ and CHN have spoken highly about their positive impressions of the club since joining, and hopefully these comments carry some weight with potential future recruits.
 

speedy2460

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And hopefully Ogden too. I don't think he gets enough credit for his performances last season which were impressive for a young prop on a team which was struggling badly at the time for any go forward.
Ogden has the potential to be a good class prop. Sadly, he seems lazy at times. He has to rev up the intensity by 50%.
Maybe its a stamina thing.
If he does and does so consistently, it will be a good thing for the club.
 

Kelpie03

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Awesome news, shame he is not here until next year. Hopefully we make some more significant signings this year and next year can really be something we look forward to.
Actually I'm glad that he is not coming for 2020, our club is going to get a big moral boost this season without him been here.
With Thompson and 1 or 2 other good signings plus an extra year's experience for our youngsters, I think we will give it a real shake in 2021.
BTW I now think that we will make the 8 this year.
 

Alan79

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Who else was in competition for Thompson? I heard the Rabbitohs before they signed Arrow, possibly the Titans before they signed Tino and obviously St. Helens as they'd be able to offer more money (but obviously wants to test himself in the NRL). I'm hoping personally Tolman wants to stay in the NRL/Australia and takes a reduced contract for an extra one to two seasons while we're building.
At the end of the day it's not hugely important to me who we beat for his signature, just that we got it. I'd prefer to let the more negative crew dwell on the rumored signatures we lost out on. In reality some of the players that people think we may not have signed amid the medias quest to make 2,000,000 mentions of our war chest are players we mighht not have even been chasing. And while some may see it as a failure if we didn't chase every single player they think would have been ideal despite a few of them having personal issues, being dickheads and trouble off the field etc, I personally don't. To me the best teams tend to have squads that don't bring a huge amount of drama with them to training to distract those around them. I look at the final year that Barba was here and have heard enough stories about some internal division that he bought to the club and think that our huge slide from our last GF appearance had a little bit to do with the fact that some of the more level heads got the shits that the old board would let someone get away with that kind of thing.

I see in our current squad a tightly knit unit that has had some of the ego knocked out of them and some egos who have departed. To me part of that was the departures of guys like Klemmer, Mbye and Lichaa who all seemed a bit self centred in my opinion. I really hope that over the next few years we see a our squad develop into a wolf pack of sorts. Where no individual within the squad feels like they're individually responsible for the good performances, but exclude themselves from the responsibility for the shit ones.Time alone will show us whether the club is following the right path in potentially steering clear of talented drama queens to focus on having a team that seems unified, if not quite as packed with individual talent. But As I said in a previous post, I really like the feeling that our roster is starting to look like they value the man next to them on game day.
 

bullanth

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I guess this is a wake up call for all our of contract forwards,perform or perish,which could be a very good motivational tool for dean pay
 

Dogs Of War

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I guess this is a wake up call for all our of contract forwards,perform or perish,which could be a very good motivational tool for dean pay
Well you have to think that's the end for Tolman unless he wants to play as a reserve grader here. Cause he isn't likely to push his way into any starting 17.

And I'd prefer a young forward on little money to be the bench player. No point having a 32yr old forward without a lot of gas left in his tank on the bench.
 

flamebouyant

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A great replacement for Tolman.
I actually see him as being in a similar mould to Tolman, allbeit with a better skill set and more speed. But that ability to play long minutes at a consistent level.
 
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