Opinion Which individual will have the biggest impact on our season?

[Flanagun]

No one cares what Elliot has or hasn’t done anymore. Go join the Newcastle forum and tell them what a reformed citizen he is. This thread is about which player will have the biggest impact for us.

I'm not the one who brought Elliott into it. I'd suggest you properly read through threads before taking pot shots at people for responding to others.

 

[Flanagun]

Try it its toastie. As for the sin bin I get away from you and your 3 heads. I come back and it’s back to positive comments and not we lack this or gus missed this . So it’s all positive and I see it has an effect on you . I dare say you have been warned baby buz.

All I did was make a simple comment about who I think will be strong for us this year, and who will struggle. People keep tagging me and directly challenging my opinions, and then you complain I make too many negative posts lol. If you all stopped trying to argue with me, it would just be an occasional post on a thread here and there. But some of you just can't let others have an opinion without challenging it and causing the whole situation to snowball. This isn't a positive comments only forum, it is a share your honest opinions about the footy club forum.

 

[CrittaMagic69]

He has played his best footy at centre and I would say it's debatable he is our best 5/8. Having a better ball player inside him could unlock his running game,which is his best attribute

1000%. Just look at the way Burton runs a line and looks to hit a hole and compare it to how he looks when he's the ball player feeding the the edge runner. The difference is night and day. One he's elite at while the others he's pathetic at. Everyone at the club knows this. How many times was Burton running a hard line off a scrum last season on the left edge with us opting to use the centre and/or fullback as the ballplayers? Plenty. How many other 5/8s do this in the game? None.

 

[Flanagun]

Look I know you loved the bloke as a player, but you need to take off the Elliott glasses mate.

You talk about his stats relating to the poor team he had around him, but he’s been with Canberra & Newcastle over the last 2 years and those stats haven’t improved much at all.

Your impressed by 100 metres, some of the other blokes in his position are punching out over 150, and their tackle efficiency rates are up closer to 95% not under 90% …

And look, you can try to down play his misdemeanours all you like, but at the time we were getting beat up by the media for just turning sideways, I’m sure all players would of been told to be low key, but he just kept racking them up, 3rd strike, he gave the club no choice but to move him on ..

If he’s got his life together now, good on him, time to move on from this dude ..

Get excited to watch the new team run out & maybe put the past in the rack mate ..

Elliott didn't play his best footy defensively last year..... he had an erratic, injury disrupted season. His 2022 season was excellent, which is why Ricky Stuart wanted to keep him. When fit, he is a valuable player.

The point isn't even about Elliott. It's about the pattern of us letting more than handy forwards go and not replacing them with better alternatives...or even comparable ones, in many cases.

I am not the one who brought Elliott into this, by the way, so I'm not sure why you are saying I'm the one who needs to get over it.

You let good players go, you've got to replace them with options that are better or just as good.... unless you're a top club dealing with cap constraints. That's my opinion.

Anyway, I'm going to stop commenting now. It's just going around in circles with you guys and I'm really not trying to derail the thread. It seems I can't make a simple honest comment these days without multiple people jumping all over it by either responding directly to me or taking indirect potshots at me, like old mate @dogwhisperer , and it's hard not to respond to that. I'm done with this thread.

 

[bowleggedwog]

All I did was make a simple comment about who I think will be strong for us this year, and who will struggle. People keep tagging me and directly challenging my opinions, and then you complain I make too many negative posts lol. If you all stopped trying to argue with me, it would just be an occasional post on a thread here and there. But some of you just can't let others have an opinion without challenging it and causing the whole situation to snowball. This isn't a positive comments only forum, it is a share your honest opinions about the footy club forum.

Fair enough you opinion is your opinion and you opinion isn’t the issue it’s the narrative. Who cares you think Waddell is a good player it’s more how you push the club is going backwards that is annoying. I agree with some of your opinions and some questionable signings but we aren’t in the know of how or why things go . So pushing Gus screwed up all the time is the shit part .

 

[Magic Burton]

Yeah, I did…and it was a bit over the top, to say the least. Didn’t ruffle me, but the idea of him saying it to others was a concern. Wasn’t me who reported him, as it turned out, but he was lucky to get such a short stint, IMHO.

@Flanagun I reported the kill yourself threats to you and I will do so again. That individual should have got more than a weeks ban.

 

[Magic Burton]

It’s like you’re incapable of considering his performances in context of how poorly our team is performing. Our pack got freaked all season, yet he still pumped out 100 metres consistently all season as a back rower (sometimes well in excess of that) and you say that’s average. His tackle efficiency is a little below 90 percent in a shambles of a defensive line where he’s having to worry not only about his own man, but what’s going on outside him, and you say his d isn’t where it needs to be. In the context of how the rest of our team was going, he had a ripper of a year. And the fact he’s not a superstar and wouldn’t have cost a fortune to retain just makes the club’s decision even worse.

As for Elliott. He had a drinking problem, addressed it, has rebuilt his friendship with Lichaa and is in a stable, loving marriage now. He has been completely incident free since he left us and is clearly in a much better place. All Elliott’s indiscretions combined aren’t as bad as beating a spouse, or sexually assaulting someone, or one of a number of other things players have done only for TK to call for their signing at one stage. Don’t get me wrong, I was in favour of signing AFB too… but only because we were absolutely desperate for an elite middle and were trying to sign a prop, not a choirboy. You guys can hand wrong all you like, but he has turned his life around and if the club had stood by him, he could be adding a lot of value to our team right now. Stupid move to let him go. Laundy was right, Gus was wrong.

@Flanagun we signed Xerri, we wanted to sign AFB and we are about to chase the May brothers. All standing up for morals out the window.

An issue we have is we let go 2 of our 3 best players from 2023. In a team that came 15th and had both the worst defence & points difference we needed to retain Averillo and Waddell. Of all our signings only 1 player commanded a top 13 spot at their previous club. All the signings bar Critta were showed the door by their former clubs some even freely released early.

Of our wins last year we nearly blew it against Wests Tigers letting in 3 tries in 3 sets an easy win made a cliff hanger for the last 10.

The win against Dragons was all Waddell and Averillo. Sloan had one of his usual shockers a bit suss was his performance.

Cowboys and Titans wins were kicks at the end of the game dropped by the opposition giving us extra sets on the line any other time they catch the kicks for breakfast. We scored off their errors from kicks. Our win over Dolphins was on the back off of Isaako missing a late kick he was otherwise the NRL's and the recent Test series top scorer. Storm was impressive win. Souths we did let in 3 late tries we had the game sealed we should have finished them off though. So we won 2 games off last minute kicks, got saved by a missed kick, Sloan gifted us a win that only Waddell & Averillo took advantage of, we nearly threw 2 games away when in control and Storm sticks out. Some of our wins were streaky, all our losses bar 2 (Roosters & Warriors) were brutal. Some of those losses looked closer with late tries or two at the very end.

 

[Magic Burton]

I’ve never reported you, actually. I came close when you suggested I should bathe with a toaster, but someone beat me to it.

You deserved what you got and more, though.

@Flanagun it was me

 

[flamebouyant]

He has played his best footy at centre and I would say it's debatable he is our best 5/8. Having a better ball player inside him could unlock his running game,which is his best attribute

Who is a better 5/8?? Don't tell me Hutchison. His running game was there last year, as was his kicking game, he just had an overall average season within a shit team, crippled by injury. I know he didn't set the world on fire, but suggesting he is nothing but a centre is massively wide of the mark! He has the goods, he just needs to fine tune it and make his mark on the team. There's no way Ciraldo has given up on him fulfilling his potential, and will surely be named at 5/8 in round 1!

 

[D0GMATIC]

Who is a better 5/8?? Don't tell me Hutchison. His running game was there last year, as was his kicking game, he just had an overall average season within a shit team, crippled by injury. I know he didn't set the world on fire, but suggesting he is nothing but a centre is massively wide of the mark! He has the goods, he just needs to fine tune it and make his mark on the team. There's no way Ciraldo has given up on him fulfilling his potential, and will surely be named at 5/8 in round 1!

Im not saying he is nothing but a centre, but his kicking game was poor last year, he has a limited passing game and not much creativity. I'm sure these were the areas CC intimated needed improvement for him to retain the 6 jersey. He may well start the year there, but for the balance of the team I think he is better suited at centre

 

[DinkumDog]

I never said he was irreplaceable, but he had a very good year for us and if you let a toiler like that go and don't find a suitable replacement, the team is going to be worse off and not better off....

So just disregard his first two average years?
What do his stats look like over his whole tenure? A whole lot poorer I bet, his handling in ‘21/22 was awful. Anyway, let’s see how many times be cracks the 17 at Crookvale with that chunky ONE YEAR contract .

 

[Flanagun]

Fair enough you opinion is your opinion and you opinion isn’t the issue it’s the narrative. Who cares you think Waddell is a good player it’s more how you push the club is going backwards that is annoying. I agree with some of your opinions and some questionable signings but we aren’t in the know of how or why things go . So pushing Gus screwed up all the time is the shit part .

Well, that's what I think, Fam. I don't think he is making good decisions at the moment and I'm pretty firm in that view. I know I can be outspoken in that regard and that it annoys some of you. I'm trying to tone it down.... but I can't guarantee I won't still make the odd comment here and there. That's what a forum is for. If numerous people keep trying to draw it out by challenging my opinions and expecting them to change, that really isn't on me. But I will try to tone down my criticism a bit for now and see how 2024 unfolds. And no, contrary to popular belief I am not @Polly Power @04Dreaming or any of the other posters you don't like. I'm kept busy enough just replying to posts aimed at this account without worrying about alternate ones.

 

[Bulldog Brower]

@Flanagun we signed Xerri, we wanted to sign AFB and we are about to chase the May brothers. All standing up for morals out the window.

An issue we have is we let go 2 of our 3 best players from 2023. In a team that came 15th and had both the worst defence & points difference we needed to retain Averillo and Waddell. Of all our signings only 1 player commanded a top 13 spot at their previous club. All the signings bar Critta were showed the door by their former clubs some even freely released early.

Of our wins last year we nearly blew it against Wests Tigers letting in 3 tries in 3 sets an easy win made a cliff hanger for the last 10.

The win against Dragons was all Waddell and Averillo. Sloan had one of his usual shockers a bit suss was his performance.

Cowboys and Titans wins were kicks at the end of the game dropped by the opposition giving us extra sets on the line any other time they catch the kicks for breakfast. We scored off their errors from kicks. Our win over Dolphins was on the back off of Isaako missing a late kick he was otherwise the NRL's and the recent Test series top scorer. Storm was impressive win. Souths we did let in 3 late tries we had the game sealed we should have finished them off though. So we won 2 games off last minute kicks, got saved by a missed kick, Sloan gifted us a win that only Waddell & Averillo took advantage of, we nearly threw 2 games away when in control and Storm sticks out. Some of our wins were streaky, all our losses bar 2 (Roosters & Warriors) were brutal. Some of those losses looked closer with late tries or two at the very end.

You have posted a number of times about our 'lucky' wins last year. How about you analyse every team in the comp to see what 'lucky' wins they also had.

And start with the lucky wins that teams had over the Dogs, eg, Warriors and Roosters.

And if you want to stick to the fact that the Dogs were lucky, isn't there an old saying that good teams/players make their own luck?

 

[Shnissss]

You have posted a number of times about our 'lucky' wins last year. How about you analyse every team in the comp to see what 'lucky' wins they also had.

And start with the lucky wins that teams had over the Dogs, eg, Warriors and Roosters.

And if you want to stick to the fact that the Dogs were lucky, isn't there an old saying that good teams/players make their own luck?

It’s easy to selectively call out games or moments in games and call them luck. You get the good and bad every season. We should have won every game but didn’t - that’s just bad luck [emoji23]

 

[Bulldog Brower]

Elliott didn't play his best footy defensively last year..... he had an erratic, injury disrupted season. His 2022 season was excellent, which is why Ricky Stuart wanted to keep him. When fit, he is a valuable player.

The point isn't even about Elliott. It's about the pattern of us letting more than handy forwards go and not replacing them with better alternatives...or even comparable ones, in many cases.

I am not the one who brought Elliott into this, by the way, so I'm not sure why you are saying I'm the one who needs to get over it.

You let good players go, you've got to replace them with options that are better or just as good.... unless you're a top club dealing with cap constraints. That's my opinion.

Anyway, I'm going to stop commenting now. It's just going around in circles with you guys and I'm really not trying to derail the thread. It seems I can't make a simple honest comment these days without multiple people jumping all over it by either responding directly to me or taking indirect potshots at me, like old mate @dogwhisperer , and it's hard not to respond to that. I'm done with this thread.

i know that the whole Elliott story has been done to death, but I'm going to throw in my opinion anyway.

Firstly, I think Elliott is a solid NRL player, not international standard, but a good player nonetheless. I enjoyed watching him playing for the Dogs.

Secondly, he did make a number of mistakes, but he was also nominated for the Ken Stephens Medal in 2018, 2019 & 2020 for his contribution to the local community. So he is obviously a good person who has fallen a few times. But, as with Xerri, he deserves another chance (Ok, maybe another two or three chances).

But my main point is this: I know a number of posters are not happy with Gus and they have a right to that opinion. But I think he has a care for his players. I have a view, which of course might be off track, that he didn't sack Elliott. I have a feeling that he suggested to him that to get away from the bad publicity and get a fresh start, he should change clubs, preferably away from Sydney, and then orchestrated a move with his mate, Ricky Stuart. This wasn't far away in time from Stuart lending the Dogs two forwards, so I'm sure that Gus and Stuart were working out a number of things together.

It has worked, Elliott appears to have got his life together. He isn't playing bad football and this might be because he knew this was his last chance.

 

[bowleggedwog]

Well, that's what I think, Fam. I don't think he is making good decisions at the moment and I'm pretty firm in that view. I know I can be outspoken in that regard and that it annoys some of you. I'm trying to tone it down.... but I can't guarantee I won't still make the odd comment here and there. That's what a forum is for. If numerous people keep trying to draw it out by challenging my opinions and expecting them to change, that really isn't on me. But I will try to tone down my criticism a bit for now and see how 2024 unfolds. And no, contrary to popular belief I am not @Polly Power @04Dreaming or any of the other posters you don't like. I'm kept busy enough just replying to posts aimed at this account without worrying about alternate ones.

It is a forum for supporters and last season was a shit show, everyone under performed except for Preston and Karaz. No one else in my opinion gets a pass and that includes CC. Why the team dished out that performance is above us all to figure out. My belief is the right people are in charge of turning the club around but it won’t be an overnight turn around. In saying that if this season is like last season than CC is under pressure to retain his job but I think there will be a magic turnaround this season results wise. It’s depressing enough being a Detroit pistons fan as well hoping to see some success with the bulldogs .

 

[Phalangist]

Im not saying he is nothing but a centre, but his kicking game was poor last year, he has a limited passing game and not much creativity. I'm sure these were the areas CC intimated needed improvement for him to retain the 6 jersey. He may well start the year there, but for the balance of the team I think he is better suited at centre

No way
When have two great centres
Xerri and crighton

for the teams sake he needs to be our 5/8

 

[bowleggedwog]

Kiks & Burton need to have big years. Burton is still learning how to play 6 but no way should he be told to steer the team around , that’s a fail by CC . Burton needs to watch L Daley and be a running threat, that will open the game of his outside. He is way to sideways, stands way to wide and flat footed. Burton is key and Kiks needs to get more involved, he come back from injury under done and that showed.

 

[Dogs Of War]

Kiks & Burton need to have big years. Burton is still learning how to play 6 but no way should he be told to steer the team around , that’s a fail by CC . Burton needs to watch L Daley and be a running threat, that will open the game of his outside. He is way to sideways, stands way to wide and flat footed. Burton is key and Kiks needs to get more involved, he come back from injury under done and that showed.

And you only need to see how Daley went when Stuart wasn't on the field to understand he couldn't direct a team to save his life. Daley was always a runner first and required someone leading team around at halfback. I'm hoping someone is good enough to be that person at half. They don't need to be a world beater. Just competent enough to get the forwards doing the right thing.

 

[bowleggedwog]

And you only need to see how Daley went when Stuart wasn't on the field to understand he couldn't direct a team to save his life. Daley was always a runner first and required someone leading team around at halfback. I'm hoping someone is good enough to be that person at half. They don't need to be a world beater. Just competent enough to get the forwards doing the right thing.

Townsend lol . We need a coach on the field.