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Turvey/Baa, Polla-Mounter/Baa, and Shifty/Braith, were all way ahead of Hutch/Burto. Those other backlines were great but if we get a half who can really unlock them, this lot will be better IMO. Burto is starting to find something but we're short of a half to see how good they can really be...

The defensive turn-around is even more outstanding with our thin set of front rowers. Whether it's a lack of experience, or size, or a decent track record, they came into the season as one of the weakest front rows, but are lifting and playing way above themselves. Kikau leading the kick-chase...

Reed does plenty of disturbing the opponents attack, even if he drops off of some tackles because he's small. He's doing a ton of work and his defence is among the least of his, or our, problems. His little sideways darts from DH where he gets caught are getting stale (like Hutch dying on he...

Makes up for speed with evasiveness. He looks like he's got a few different positions in him.

Great player. Very sad loss and thoughts to his loved ones.

It's hard to apportion credit to this or that for our big improvement, but Crichton as leader has been much better. He's grown into it in 2 months, with plenty of support from Kikau, Mann and a few others.. The other players never see him not going hard as, and I love watching him. Meanwhile...

Forget it Reni. You found a home and some great mates for life and helped win us a GF. You played with some other teams but you're a Bulldog mate.

Sounds to me like the people advising him are thinking of themselves and not Jackson. He came to a fork in the road where he could have cried like a baby or sucked it up like an adult. Good advice was all he needed! Even if he gets money it’s a very bad choice to chase victimhood like that...

I like your optimism and hope you're right.

I saw Knight interviewed after NSW Cup on the weekend and he was asked what was keeping him out of FG. He was pretty honest and said his defensive movements are costing him. I doubt he can deliver in Ciro's system and is a 3rd stringer now even with our lack of props. Morrin's now our No. 3...

He was the same last week. Even with a needle he was flat out being 75%. Not a very smart way to manage a $million plus player. Cronk in a GF I get, but that was plain dumb. Almost as if the coach was thinking more about himself, or got really bad medical advice.

I noticed Kikau and salmon defending closer in on the weekend. Our players also did a great job finding their front when tackled and getting quick play the balls, while getting Knights onto their backs. Our kick-chase is as good as anyone’s, and the backs are taking a greater share of the...

Rightly or wrongly the bunker is making a distinction between a ‘tap-on’ that goes forward and a ‘catch-and-pass’ that goes forward. Apparently their eyes only work in one of those scenarios, and even then, only in Bulldogs games.

Would be good mates with Elliott. He likes pot plants.

13+, how good!

Yee Haa!

We don't die in the arse when things go wrong anymore.

Gus said it was some sort of pneumonia.

I feel your pain but Sexton's not the answer. Hopefully one of the young blokes is special enough to be fast-tracked, or Taaffe gets some time there and surprises us!

You've been watching Gus. The way Ciraldo's been talking up Taaffe, I can't see him dropping out for King, although that's what I'd do. I'd say Ciro leaves out Hayward or Patolo.

Agree he’s not a yardage winger, but his post contact meters have improved a lot since he started only eating meat!!

What's Max King doing in the reserves? I wonder if he's a genuine possibility.

F..k me. Remember when NAS and Kaufusi were dropping elbows from 3 feet and not getting charged? It was only a few years ago.

There's always been a narrative on TK that halves have to be top tier defenders.

Solomon Haumono preferred the British Love Machine to the Bulldogs back in the day.

Xerri will be the best value-for-money centre in the comp this year. Good one Gus.

True, but if the Titans game is anything to go by we should be ok. The Storm loss should have us hungry, especially with the with chance to go into the bye on a high. The alternative (two weeks to think about a home loss to Newcastle), would be torture.

Surprisingly our front row has held up really well, our backrow is a weapon, and injuries and rotations in the outside backs hasn't bothered us with our great depth. Even Burto is showing glimpses and starting to combine with the outside quality (his kicks are still a lottery). Still need more...

I'd go Hayward at half. Showed he belongs in FG tonight, gives 100%, and hasn't forgotten how to play half. Maybe give Taaffe a go in NSW Cup first, but not straight into FG. Otherwise keep Hayward at 14 till Mann gets back and try Sexton at half. At least he knows how to give early ball.

Yep. Just cause Taaffe was improving doesn't put him close to Tracey.

It's an odd swap but I reckon Turpin will bring more than Knight would have.

I think when Gus labels someone ‘a project’, he means they are gonna take a while. He’s not as impatient as some of us to see Skelton in 1st grade, but still reckons he’ll get there. I just hope it’s with us!

Agree he does a pretty good job of tightening up the middle and doesn’t shirk the hard work.

What's the bet NAS comes in for them. It's gonna take a superhuman effort to get the this one now King's out.

Move it to guess's, or dreams, or better still, nightmares.

We've got a decent enough team this week if they all end up playing. I had a chuckle when I saw Xerri'e sponsor on our website.

Would be good to see Skelton get a few games in the forwards in NSW Cup to see if he can be a genuine bench utility option for NRL. He can run like a good lock or edge forward but can he defend there?

They are winnable for sure. We've got some guts this year, even if we can't do it for 80 yet. Let's see if our depth can step up and show the same guts. We should be fine in the backs at least. Mann's been our most important player IMO and will be hard to replace.

He's like a crying Confucius wannabe.

Kikau 3 King 2 Burto 1

We got plenty of breaks and only just won against 12 men, so it was shit from that point of view. But we had one terrible 20 minute period (like every other game - usually the one before half time) and banked 2 points against a team no one expected us to beat. We tried some new combinations and...

A fit King makes a big difference. Patolo stood his ground well and so has Hughes. Mann's a mini wrecking ball tonight. Is JWH playing?

Mann's like a ball playing McCinnes.

Trying to find the balance between freedom of choice and addiction is hard. Addiction is a choice too, at least to start off with. I'd love to see people not gamble their life away, but even opening a small business is a gamble. Plenty of things are, and it's part of being free.

I thought Ryan Sutton was back when I glanced at the thread title. Ended up to be the lesser of two evils. Whether he picks on us or not, Gerard is a shit ref, but Ryan is a shitter prop.

Great to see us in the NRLW. I don't mind watching it. The quality is getting better and it's usually decent open footy. Much better than Union or AFL if there's no NRL on. The product needs to pay for itself but I reckon it will and is worth investing in, even if it's not for everyone.

Pound for pound, he's one of the best one on one defenders in the comp. I've seen him drive bigger blokes plenty of times. His work-rate and ball play is getting better all the time.

We can improve on that, but we're never going to be right up there. We won't get too many PCMs out of our props for starters, and we haven't got those strong barging wingers like other teams. We need to lift in other areas, like our kick chase, which was great on the weekend. Also the high...

The best thing about the game was the way our forwards stood up against their bigger pack. The quality and work rate's of Mann and Curran is helping to balance the lack of size in the middle, and King and Mahoney are toiling great. But lets face it, the Titan's are a team out of form and they...

3. Kiraz 2. Kikau 1. Curran Max king not far off. Great performance doing the hard stuff in the middle.

I'd say Curran doesn't start at lock because we need him for the front row rotation unfortunately. Ciro seems to rate Salmon but the main reason is surely our weak front row ATM. I'd love to start him at lock too if we had the luxury of a couple more decent front rowers. He's a bit different to...

My favourite player as a kid after Garry Dowling left.

He does a lot of nothing usually.

Curran with big PCMs and only 1 offload is a lost opportunity. Needs more support. Hughes made a tackle a minute so he's working hard while he's out there. We only need 40 odd mins out of him, so he should get up around that soon.

instead of the 4 hopefully.

He can run at centre. Yes we need halves who can run and create doubt, but if they can't organise at all, it's pointless having them there.

We don't need a running 5/8 right now. We need 2 halves who can unlock the outside backs and bring the edge backrowers into the game. We don't have that, but we've got to try something different soon. I wonder what Burto shows at training that he can't do on the field?

I've never seen someone wait for bombs with their arms so stiff. It's not natural. He's got no timing or confidence. Its a no-brainer for Tracey to come in.

Couple of nice touches by Edwards too so far.

He was a depth signing for them, not the next big thing!

Any young player with a healing ACL would surely want to give back big time to a club that gave him a go! Hope he's got the fitness and ability to back it, but motivation shouldn't be a problem.

Yeah I agree he was probably there sus out possible corporate partnerships or opportunities for future, just not to scout unknown players.

Sounds like a bullshit beat-up to me. Surely we aren't sending Warburton and a Director out now to recruit players.

I wouldn't be surprised if Turpin got the 14. Mahoney needs a rest during games and we don't need a part time dummy half like Mann or Hayward filling in. Recovering from a broken finger and playing no trials might have affect things, but Mahoney isn't a 80 minute player at the moment and...

He’s just not robust enough for regular FG fullback in my opinion.

The moron that wrote this is actually a double moron. Make that triple. It was a fucking trial.

I don't get the hype about Salmon in the trials (playing like Isaah Yeo???), but I still think he's a very decent player. I don't mind him starting in front of Curren given we are way short on front rowers and need Current to be part of the front row rotation. Maybe Tetavano's signing eases...

Mahoney was bad. Looked like he was deliberately throwing ankle passes at times. Burto was awkward again as usual. Curren was pretty good and King and Preston both played well. Taafe was terrible. Hutchinson was mixed but mostly below average - looked like he lost composure after that first...

must be sweating vaseline.

Ciro made a lot of rash decisions in his first year of head coach (choosing all the captains, signing JR, sticking with Perhem etc), but hopefully that's out of his system now. This decision is cause he's the right bloke and if it's gonna happen there's no good time, so get it over with. We're...

Gus mentioned Tracey, just didn’t give a specific timeline on his injury, before saying the squad would all be fit for rd 1 if we got through this trial. I took that as Tracey would be fit. Gus also plead guilty to pulling a few swifties in his time.

He's worth heaps more to us at 750k, than Fifita is at way over a million to GC. Crichton will impact every game with quality attack and defence, and on-field leadership, from any position. He's up with the best centres, plus he's versatile if he needs to be. We picked up a gem in a pretty...

Trial teams usually start with the quality players and bring on fringe players around 1/2 time. For that reason I’m surprised Sexton isn’t starting against the stronger players, given Hutch also started trial 1. I think it’s a good sign Hutch is in front at the moment. I think Ciro likes the...

Maybe trial tea leaves are meaningless to read, but they are still telling me; - Salmon or Mann to start at lock in Rd 1 and Curren to be part of the front row rotation (by necessity) - there is still genuine uncertainty about halfback. - Xerri will start Rd 1 - Morrin, through sheer effort...

I don't think it's so much whether he runs or passes, more that Burto seems to have a way of slowing down the play. Seems to baulk or be in two minds a lot of the time. He looks unnatural and indecisive at 5/8 to me. Hope he finds something soon but he doesn't look confident to me.

so what?

News got to spin it first, so some of that will stick around in people's heads, but this is pretty much a non issue. OK, so we don't know how this new gazillionaire will go yet, but everyone else on the board supports him so there's no reason at all to get bent out of shape about it.

No. 14?

Decent start for first trial. Burto just looked awkward like most of last year. Hughes went well, and looks the goods. King looked gassed after 10 mins but kept going well. Taafe was solid but Papalii looked at least as good in that game. Knight should have to go without tonight after that...

Seems like we've been waiting for ages for this. The start of the season never gets old, even though I do. Only a trial but looking forward to seeing Hutchinson, Taafe, Hughes and Skelton the most.

I just turn on Kayo and watch what I want and it works. Never had a problem on hard disk, device or smart tv. Maybe it’s a bit hit and miss for others but mines been fine.

Yeah it's the sustainability of just eating meat that's the problem, but he'll get away with for a while being young. If it's really making him feel better, I don't care it's his decision. Probably taking a shitload of vitamin and fibre supplements, but I expect his diet will change soon too.

When Burto earns his money he can have a new mouth. For now he has to stay like a halfwit from Dubbo with half his teeth knocked out. Good motivation for him.

Just more dribbly fake indignation about a non-issue from people who spend their lives looking for things to get all fake-upset about.

I’d start Xerri in Cup for a couple of rounds. Even if he’s physically ready, and seems mentally ready, he needs to get the feel of a real 80 minute game again. We should have pretty decent backs in cup so he’ll get plenty of ball.

Text strobing again! I shouldn't struggle through it but I do. After a few fits I even noticed the double L, or is it double i?

I'm not convinced about Tracey or Taafe at fullback, but it looks like it will be one of them. It's easy to get excited about the flashy parts of Tracey, speed and a jink, but a lot of what I've seen is crabbing cross field without much direction. I'd go with him on potential though over...

All were great but 1995 was best for sure. Came from 6th and I still love watching Ken Arthurson looking for a hole to crawl into as he disgustingly announces us as Premiers. Fuck Manly.

Is this the last fragment of Des finally gone? It’s suddenly a lot lighter in the dead wood department at the Dogs.

If you can't work out how the little flat bit your standing on turns into a big round world it's odd, but fortunately it doesn't make any difference to whether you can play footy.

Most of the kennel would qualify as top notch journos. Talking shit with a straight face is the main skill needed.

That's a good trio of leaders. I reckon Burto will learn, but he's more like one of the gang now than a leader. If Reed's personal performances don't improve early in the year I reckon Ciro will try Turpin at 14 and give him a rest during games. If we don't start improving Ciro (or whoever is...

I agree, although neither were good last year as captains. Hopefully with a year under their belts and an off season to work on things, they'll be much better. Burton should start by leading with his effort, which Mahoney at least tried to do, but spoilt it with too many mistakes.

Soft is the word. Same in defence, all grabbing and dragging, no driving the ball carrier with force.

Sounds motivated with his best prep in a few years. We need him to do what he says. Also good that in interviews our players are talking about what the team needs to do, and not how they found a new best mate, like last year.

I can't see him starting in Rd1 but good to hear Xerri getting a mention for his effort. Crichton's far from a ready-to-go fullback, so if he was playing there surely he'd be training there. Sounds like it's Tracey at fullback to me.

I agree that's what we should try to do. We won't dominate the ruck through big hard talented middles, so urgency in all those little areas is very important. Also need to bring some ball playing through the middle - inside / outside balls like Dymock, Pay, J Smith and Britt were doing as a...

King’s form was pretty good at the start of last year, then he carried an injury and his form dropped. He’s no world beater but he’s much better than he showed in the 2nd half of 2023

It’s just what happens when this sort of bombshell news causes chaos in RL and melts down the internet. It’s looking grim.

I'd say a mis-print or a dodgy stop watch. Deardon ran a club record at 4.26.