Declan Okunbor

[kmr07]

Where's braiden burns is he back soon?

Played NSW cup today

 

[gee333]

Wow a lot of you people on here must be farken perfect and never make mistakes. Ease up on the kid. Some of the shit on here is actually pretty brutal. It's not like he tried to fuck up. Sure, it wasn't great... he will be stressing over that for ages to come. Isn't that enough punishment, let alone having your own fans bite your balls on your FG debut.......

 

[2144superman]

Wow a lot of you people on here must be farken perfect and never make mistakes. Ease up on the kid. Some of the shit on here is actually pretty brutal. It's not like he tried to fuck up. Sure, it wasn't great... he will be stressing over that for ages to come. Isn't that enough punishment, let alone having your own fans bite your balls on your FG debut.......

LOL he didn't just make one or two casual mistakes .. he dead set kept dropping the ball over and over and over. It's first grade, there's an expectation. First game or not you're at least expected to catch the ball, especially when there's no one near you.

 

[chisdog]

I haven't seen the game but it sounds pretty bad.

It would have to, to top the debut of Matthew Callinan, who was a winger for the Bulldogs in 1985.

Only played 24 games but his first 1st Grade game was abysmal, he couldn't hold the ball, knocked on and was having a horror day. Players got around him to support him but he just made error after error. Obviously nerves got the better of him but it was the worst debut game I've ever seen.

Eventually they hooked him but he did go on to play another 23 games for the Dogs in '85 and '86 where he scored 24 tries in that time.

Callinan made his debut in the last few minutes of the round 14 game in 1985 V Cronulla. He didn't have enough time to make so many errors. His first start was against Wests in round 26 where the reports say he played well. Well enough to play in the following 3 games which were finals, scoring 1 try in a losing game V St.George (off the bench), followed by 2 in a starring role V Parramatta which ensured he got a grand final wing spot.

He retired in 1986.

Quote from Phil Gould

"I recall playing with a young bloke called Matthew Callinan back at Canterbury in 1985. He was a tall, speedy winger with a load of natural ability. Good bloke, too. Coach Warren Ryan pulled him from the lower grades to play in the first-grade finals that year and the rookie covered himself in glory with some stunning performances. The Bulldogs won the premiership; Callinan was sensational and seemingly had the world at his feet. How did he react to his success? He retired.

When we tried to talk him out of it and asked him why he would retire so young, especially after having such wonderful success, he replied: "You blokes take this football stuff way too serious for me. I could never be that serious about it." Now that's what I call honesty!
I see him occasionally around the local sporting grounds out Caringbah way as he follows his kids' sporting teams. He's an electrician and as happy as a man can be. You will have to ask him if he would do it all over again but I get the impression he never even thinks about it."

When the motivation is lost it's time to pull up stumps (smh.com.au)

If he had had such a poor debut I am sure I would have remembered it. From memory Troy Clarke who came from Newcastle had a few games which were shockers.

 

[chisdog]

Wow a lot of you people on here must be farken perfect and never make mistakes. Ease up on the kid. Some of the shit on here is actually pretty brutal. It's not like he tried to fuck up. Sure, it wasn't great... he will be stressing over that for ages to come. Isn't that enough punishment, let alone having your own fans bite your balls on your FG debut.......

Absolutely right. He didn't play well & got knocked out in probably the worst conditions a Canterbury team has played in since 1987. He has a Canterbury 1st grade jersey which I bet no others on this forum earned. I hope he is OK & Is able to come back from this. I am sure everybody has had a really bad day, but virtually none of us will have it on international TV.

Best wishes to you Declan.

 

[Shreksno1]

Absolutely right. He didn't play well & got knocked out in probably the worst conditions a Canterbury team has played in since 1987. He has a Canterbury 1st grade jersey which I bet no others on this forum earned. I hope he is OK & Is able to come back from this. I am sure everybody has had a really bad day, but virtually none of us will have it on international TV.

Best wishes to you Declan.

 

[JayBee]

Definitely a debut to forget.

Luckily for him, he most likely will.

 

[CQDog]

Every player is entitled to a bad game. Shows guts. Hope he gets another chance to prove all of you wrong.

We are all right lol. He isn’t proving shit the eshay lookin dog.

 

[BlackDawg]

Hope the kid is ok. I hope the kid is given more chances in 1st grade this season, as we aren't going to achieve anything other than let young kids debut and get over nerves. I like to give kids 10 to 15 games before I start forming opinions & even then I can be wrong at times. I put Averillo in the dumpster but he has been reasonably good at fullback so far. Okenbur on the other hand I want kept in the dumspter. I would like to know why we aren't giving topine more goes in 1st grade. He seems to be a player in the mold of Rouben Cotter.

 

[Phalangist]

Absolutely right. He didn't play well & got knocked out in probably the worst conditions a Canterbury team has played in since 1987. He has a Canterbury 1st grade jersey which I bet no others on this forum earned. I hope he is OK & Is able to come back from this. I am sure everybody has had a really bad day, but virtually none of us will have it on international TV.

Best wishes to you Declan.

I feel sorry for him but wow he had a shocker and I don’t think he should play first grade again for a very long time.
He makes these mistakes in Nsw cup.

allan is our best choice for the wing or maybe burns.

 

[dogon]

Literally the worst debut game I’ve ever seen.

Scott Sattler's debut for the Roosters back in 1994 was diabolical so much so he was punted after only one game.

 

[Grechy21]

Wow a lot of you people on here must be farken perfect and never make mistakes. Ease up on the kid. Some of the shit on here is actually pretty brutal. It's not like he tried to fuck up. Sure, it wasn't great... he will be stressing over that for ages to come. Isn't that enough punishment, let alone having your own fans bite your balls on your FG debut.......

If I fucked up that many times at work, would the company and its shareholders go easy on me???? Don’t think so

 

[ddt192]

This shit ***** literally promised he wouldn’t let the boys down to their faces gronk goes out there n drops 4 balls then gets ko’d by Fifitas fat arse

 

[Baseball Furies]

It was as bad as it gets, Mulitalo talking smack all game clearly rattled him and Kiraz though.

 

[Kung fu man]

People shouldn't forget that RFM literally only had to place the ball on the ground and the Bulldogs take the lead and instead he fumbled it and knocked on.

People forget the rain was torrential and conditions for playing were crap as well.

 

[2144superman]

People forget the rain was torrential and conditions for playing were crap as well.

Both teams played in the same conditions did they not? Your argument very flawed.

 

[Mr. Ditkovich]

This shit ***** literally promised he wouldn’t let the boys down to their faces gronk goes out there n drops 4 balls then gets ko’d by Fifitas fat arse

Yeah he went out there to purposely drop balls and randomly decided to headbutt Fifita’s shoulder.

 

[maroondog72]

Lol would love to see some of the “world beater’s” on here play a debut on the wing in those conditions. Kid’s not ready for first grade but he’s not the first and won’t be the last to have a bad debut.

 

[CrittaMagic69]

Lol would love to see some of the “world beater’s” on here play a debut on the wing in those conditions. Kid’s not ready for first grade but he’s not the first and won’t be the last to have a bad debut.

He does this type of shit in good conditions though. Kid was lucky (or unlucky) to even make his debut, doubt he ever plays again.

 

[Rod67]

Callinan made his debut in the last few minutes of the round 14 game in 1985 V Cronulla. He didn't have enough time to make so many errors. His first start was against Wests in round 26 where the reports say he played well. Well enough to play in the following 3 games which were finals, scoring 1 try in a losing game V St.George (off the bench), followed by 2 in a starring role V Parramatta which ensured he got a grand final wing spot.

He retired in 1986.

Quote from Phil Gould

"I recall playing with a young bloke called Matthew Callinan back at Canterbury in 1985. He was a tall, speedy winger with a load of natural ability. Good bloke, too. Coach Warren Ryan pulled him from the lower grades to play in the first-grade finals that year and the rookie covered himself in glory with some stunning performances. The Bulldogs won the premiership; Callinan was sensational and seemingly had the world at his feet. How did he react to his success? He retired.

When we tried to talk him out of it and asked him why he would retire so young, especially after having such wonderful success, he replied: "You blokes take this football stuff way too serious for me. I could never be that serious about it." Now that's what I call honesty!
I see him occasionally around the local sporting grounds out Caringbah way as he follows his kids' sporting teams. He's an electrician and as happy as a man can be. You will have to ask him if he would do it all over again but I get the impression he never even thinks about it."

When the motivation is lost it's time to pull up stumps (smh.com.au)

If he had had such a poor debut I am sure I would have remembered it. From memory Troy Clarke who came from Newcastle had a few games which were shockers.

Now I may have the debut game wrong but I definitely haven't got the wrong player. He had an absolute shocker on the wing for us, fairly certain is was a game at the SCG, I clearly remember seeing it, as it was a televised game and have never forgotten it.

If it wasn't his debut it may have been when they brought him back into the finals, due to injuries and nerves got the better of him. Unfortunately I can find NO coverage of the game in question but do remember him having an absolute Barry "Crocker" of a game. He did however go on to show his true ability with us in '85 and '86 by scoring 24 tries in those 2 years.