Alan79
Kennel Legend
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2007
- Messages
- 13,471
- Reaction score
- 19,749
I'm pretty gutted that Graham is leaving. He's been a big part of the culture since he arrived. I still remember the Bupa video where Tolman introduced himself as James Graham in an english accent, got pushed out of the way by the real Graham who said "no you're not, I am" etc. Showed that he's obviously a character. I do miss the aggression he used to show, but with the bullshit that the referees get away with now it's somewhat understandable that as captain he had to tone down his anger to be able to deal with the bunch of over-rated corrupt morons that should only be sounding a whistle when they fart. The NRL hierarchy have made it abundantly clear that the refs are a protected species and that players aren't allowed to show passion when dealing with them. I don't watch the NRL because I'm a fan of some pansy in a pink shirt who blows the whistle and screws teams over with absolutely rubbish decisions. I and every other fan respect and admire the players. But i digress.
From the clubs point of view it's very disappointing the way they've kept things so quiet in every regard, not to mention that they created this situation where they've had to hand off some of my favorite players. I know they probably didn't want to seem desperate to offload players thus giving the potential recruiters a massive boost in negotiating power, but the fans and the players deserved more knowledge of what was going on. If this is the kind of stuff that's been going on behind the scenes all year (players negotiating for new deals elsewhere whether they wanted it or not) I can understand our lack of form and the fact that a lot of the passion seemed to be gone. Kasiano had something on his mind early in the season which wound up being that he was having to negotiate his move away from a club that he seemed pretty happy with. It's no way to run the club. I think Woods will be good here but we've lost two better than average props in Kasiano and Graham to bring him here. Once upon a time we bought bargain basement props and turned them into representative players or bought them through our junior ranks with incredible regularity.
In terms of recruiting Foran. He may do great here, but he is a gamble and while he does have more playmaking ability on a good day than I'm convinced Mbye has anytime, he's got injury issues that may prove to be more persistent than his price tag may justify (obviously i don't know what we're paying him more than anyone else here does).
I wonder now if Castle left because she was disappointed with the way things are being run or because she was made a scapegoat and pushed. I had thought before now that the club had probably made some smart moves in letting go of Williams and a swag of other players that weren't all that brilliant but were probably on moderate money. I approve of the fact that we seem to have shaken up the junior coaching ranks and recruitment staff, because the club has obviously lost the successful formula of producing great talent, buying in the odd established player or finding potential in players that haven't achieved much in their old set-ups but who could be great (look at the likes of recruiting O'Meley, Ryan, Tonga, Vagana and guys like Rauhihi etc in a short period of time when we had to rebuild). The Bulldogs club of old would be pretty disgusted with the fact that we have lost that recipe of intelligent management that saw us become one of the powerhouses for 20 of the earliest years that I supported this club for. I've tried to defend the club for shaking things up regarding junior development, but the fact that they've kept us in the dark has got me fired up about this right now. I couldn't give a shit if the current managment were all hauled away and shot right now if we could bring a Savvy bunch into the roles they vacated.
I try not to be reactionary like this, but the club has denied a few times that Graham was even a possibility of leaving. I feel that Graham and the fans deserved the chance to get accustomed to the fact that his last games for us were in progress over the last few rounds. I'm surprised that with Williams and around four other established players leaving that we've been in a position where we went on a buying spree that's forced yet another captain out of the club.
From the clubs point of view it's very disappointing the way they've kept things so quiet in every regard, not to mention that they created this situation where they've had to hand off some of my favorite players. I know they probably didn't want to seem desperate to offload players thus giving the potential recruiters a massive boost in negotiating power, but the fans and the players deserved more knowledge of what was going on. If this is the kind of stuff that's been going on behind the scenes all year (players negotiating for new deals elsewhere whether they wanted it or not) I can understand our lack of form and the fact that a lot of the passion seemed to be gone. Kasiano had something on his mind early in the season which wound up being that he was having to negotiate his move away from a club that he seemed pretty happy with. It's no way to run the club. I think Woods will be good here but we've lost two better than average props in Kasiano and Graham to bring him here. Once upon a time we bought bargain basement props and turned them into representative players or bought them through our junior ranks with incredible regularity.
In terms of recruiting Foran. He may do great here, but he is a gamble and while he does have more playmaking ability on a good day than I'm convinced Mbye has anytime, he's got injury issues that may prove to be more persistent than his price tag may justify (obviously i don't know what we're paying him more than anyone else here does).
I wonder now if Castle left because she was disappointed with the way things are being run or because she was made a scapegoat and pushed. I had thought before now that the club had probably made some smart moves in letting go of Williams and a swag of other players that weren't all that brilliant but were probably on moderate money. I approve of the fact that we seem to have shaken up the junior coaching ranks and recruitment staff, because the club has obviously lost the successful formula of producing great talent, buying in the odd established player or finding potential in players that haven't achieved much in their old set-ups but who could be great (look at the likes of recruiting O'Meley, Ryan, Tonga, Vagana and guys like Rauhihi etc in a short period of time when we had to rebuild). The Bulldogs club of old would be pretty disgusted with the fact that we have lost that recipe of intelligent management that saw us become one of the powerhouses for 20 of the earliest years that I supported this club for. I've tried to defend the club for shaking things up regarding junior development, but the fact that they've kept us in the dark has got me fired up about this right now. I couldn't give a shit if the current managment were all hauled away and shot right now if we could bring a Savvy bunch into the roles they vacated.
I try not to be reactionary like this, but the club has denied a few times that Graham was even a possibility of leaving. I feel that Graham and the fans deserved the chance to get accustomed to the fact that his last games for us were in progress over the last few rounds. I'm surprised that with Williams and around four other established players leaving that we've been in a position where we went on a buying spree that's forced yet another captain out of the club.
