Do we suffer from bad retention? bad recruitment? or bad development?

[Mr Invisible]

One of these threads again.

Dwelling in the past doesn't solve the future.

Most of those players had to go / didn't want to be here / got offers we couldn't match.

 

[_G-Dog_]

Player development is overrated.. the club with the biggest juniors like Panthers Brisbane havent won a comp since 2006..

Dragons 2010, Roosters 2013, Souths 2014 Sharks 2016, Roosters 2018 all recruited top players leading into their premiership year

 

[Wolfmother]

Urine retention is pretty bad maybe pay thinks retention is a bad thing and that's why he dropped so many players

 

[CaptainJackson]

Corey Thompson - minimum wage

Better than Crichton, Holland, Montoya

Adam Elliot - leadership group

JMK a whole season

No fullback as of yet

Lewis and Martin only promoted through injury, salary cap places becoming available

I think that says enough about our recruitment and retention.

 

[doggieaaron]

We have not recruited well since Mullholland left hopefully gary hughes changes that now on

 

[The DoggFather]

People were calling most of those players shit when they played for us. Maybe we have a bad fanbase too....

Maybe because they were shit or turned to shit?

 

[LG]

Development has been an issue for atleast 5 seasons, we just having been bringing through NRL quality players at the rates of most other teams lately



our decisions based around who we keep and who we let go and who we sign have been poor for a while, if you were to look back several years, i'd say the last year where our signings exceeded our losses in hindsight was probably the year we signed graham just because of what he added to the club

following that, it was a series of letting guys go that would make us look silly while offering others big $

 

[Raysie]

Fact of the matter is it's been 15 years since a player would come to the Bulldogs and actually develop and become a better player a result.

 

[KiwiDog7]

You couldn’t even call our squad of misfits one that has been put together based on the moneyball theory

There’s no rhyme or rhythm with our recruitment just like our attack and defence

Mud

 

[Alan79]

The downhill slide started when we began bringing in head office staff with zero background in league. This year looks less than promising. But it may be a year we had to have to start rebuilding.



I look at the time we started letting great talent scouts go as the time when the slide began. It's not so much that our juniors could always become stars. It's more that when only the best of them could even be classified as NRL quality that issues arise.



To be able to sign quality players, you need to have a good source of juniors filling in on low wages who can do the work required of them. Our production line fell apart. We had to start paying significant money to bring in players who could cut it. So eventually it hit a point where we had no cash around to retain quality in the cases where we actually found it in the junior ranks. Look at the fact that we supposedly had Perretts little big brother on $300k before he made his nrl debut as a flow on of poor junior development.



I think our current administration team might have us halting the slide. A few big money signings might make some difference. But we need to be producing juniors that can fill the roster deficiencies to make big money players sustainable.



All the whinging and whining about this year doesn't change a thing. It may turn out to be a year we want to forget. But as long as we overhaul our junior development it's a positive start. I still expect some coaching and development staff will be changed. Hopefully we get it right with the youngsters we begin recruiting. They don't have to be stars. Just good enough to at least be NRL standard.