More of this from our middle forwards "done wrestled with a alligator, I done tussled with a whale; I done handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick.” THE GREATEST in ‘72 for ‘The Rumble In The Jungle’. Muhammad Ali
one of the greatest orators of all time with one major difference to all the rest, He had the goods to back it up.
Looking back on his career / life he "got it" - the bravado, the humour, the skill, the toughness and the integrity through his actions regardless of the price - everyone after him trying to copy look second n third rate.
There will only ever be one Ali.
So throw out all this lot because they can't be taught aggressive or competitive play at the designated props academy?
Keep on being delusional. At least some Dogs fans aren’t afraid of hard facts
I'm a fair bit older than you (not that being older makes a person any smarter) - I notice we both joined this forum in Nov 2006, so I respect where you are coming from and have no doubt it is from a good place.
Nah bloke has fixed our juniors and is doing well. Perceived negatives definitely do not outweigh the positives.
I hit a nerve eh?
Eat a dick feather duster.
So if the Bulldogs finish bottom four this year do you still hold that belief ?
Stuart was behind Stuart's sacking, amongst many errors he totally farked up their roster in 2005/6/7. So badly that it cost Chris Anderson his health trying to fix it and it wasn't half fixed until 2010. People forget that the Chooks were pretty shit from 2005 to 2013, they only made the finals twice in that time. The rot started with Stuart.
He’s a clown mate I caught him out years ago. Don’t fall for it!I hit a nerve eh?
Idk been stuffed since yesterday I messaged @Dognacious about it hopefully sorted soon
Yes, why because Papalii, O'Niell, Woods, Marshall and many other juniors are not yet in first grade. We're not like the Roosters can't go buy SBW, Maloney, Jennings, Sam Moa, O'Donnell in one off season to catapult from bottom 4.
We have one or two nice props coming through our Flegg and Seve looks good in Ball. However the real talent is in our Matts squad. There are some scary Mofos in that squad. We need to lock up Seve's brother, the number 8, 13 and 16 at least that played on the weekend. Our HM Matts team also has 2 beast wingers. However they never get the ball, because we just play through the middle with a middle forward scoring nearly every set. I will be shocked if they don't win it undefeated. Only issue will be complacency. Problem is that Matts which is under 17s (some may turn 18 this year?), so they are 2-3 years away minimum form NRL. Seve is a prospect for late 25 at the earliest. I was glad to see Damon Marshal play 10 for Flegg. We have enough 13s. His tackling is great, but needs to take more carries. He did a nice play the ball that lead to a try on the weekend which was nice. Thats a long time to wait. Good thing is we have a gun Flegg squad followed by a gun Matts squad, followed by a second gun Matts squad. If we can hold on to the best..the players are coming. Just going to take 2-3 years.
Agree with aĺl that you've pointed out.Indeed it is. No one wants an unhappy team.
But, we should remember that this time last year we also had a bunch of "happy campers" ("training hard", "buying into the system", "Ciraldo really cares - he's a friend first", etc), even after a deflating Rnd 1 loss to Manly and especially after a Rnd 2 bounce-back against an admittedly understrength Melbourne.
Turned out to be confidence founded on naivety, and by the time reality set in mid-season, the wheels fell off and the knives came out for the players (maybe he made them feel "too safe" at year's start).
Anyways, it is what happens next that counts.
My concern is there is (way) too much Deja Vu about the start of our 2024 (I really, REALLY hope it doesn't go on to pan out the same way); and that persistent nag that Ciraldo isn't learning quickly enough, and in some areas, apparently not at all.
Just one (of many examples). It appears that Taffe is Ciraldo's Perham2.0 - geez I hope I am wrong (wrong, wrong, wrong). Only two trials and one round, but all of the evidence so far is not looking good at all.
Rookie coach, fixated on [insert current favourite player here] for the fullback slot (Last year Perham | This year Taffe).
Trains him there ALL pre-season, with little legitimate alternative (Last year Averillo | This year. Take your pick of Crichton, Wilson, or Burton - it would be unfair to include Tracey & Kiraz, both being mostly injured).
Yeah, they might have had a run or two, but nothing significant enough to force the spot, because any of Crichton, Wilson, or Burton without the benefit of a decent pre-season there, becomes a huge gamble for an early season switch. We'd be essentially 6 weeks behind.
But worse, if it does go that way, steadfastly refusing to confront the error and correct it until the season has totally slipped past.
Probably not absolute panic stations yet, but if we're still here in round 3-4, nothing has improved, and Ciraldo makes no corrective decisions, we will be not just talking about writing off 2024, but starting to talk about which round will be his last, because doing something rounds10-16, or later, will be just too late.
Just like Barrett, he's had two full pre-seasons, he's got the players he wants. No one's asking him to win the comp with this roster (would be nice though
It's a decent roster. Yes, understrength in a few key areas, but decent enough that a good coach can do something with them.
Regardless, he won't be sacked this year. But if he repeats last year's mistakes, there's nothing to suggest he won't do exactly the same thing in the next pre-season. New players can only mask that kind of deficiency for so long.
C'mon Cameron. Challenge yourself. Grow. Show us what you've got.
Get off The Kennel mate. We can handle our problems in house but thanks for your Buzz-like concern.