So have we reached rock bottom as a footy club or are we still free falling?

What I dislike from this deal is that it could have a flow-on effect.

My fear is that someone like Wally Lewis can easily get into his nephew's ear about what Lachlan could earn at the Broncos under Seibold and 3rd party deals and before we know it, Lachlan wants out and we release him as we don't want to stand in the way of an unhappy player.

Why is it that the only players that want to play for our club are Lichaa and Tolman?

I don't think Wally or Lachlan are like that.
A lot hinges on results this season, clubs that are seen to be stragglers need to pay overs.
We are going to have progressively more cap to play with, most important thing is for the coach to make the right calls and for the club to not pay overs.
You are right to suggest Lewis could be a cornerstone player for us, as was Klem.
Rebuilding the clubs image and attracting TPAs is also important, we can't wipe out 10-20 years of bad management in a single season.
The key to being a reputation is consistency and standards, above all don't panic and start paying overs.
Be the kind of club players are happy to play for.
I don't pretend Napa is a good replacement for Klem, but he was the best we could get.
With the benefit of hindsight I would have given Moore another year on 2012 to see what he could do with the squad he built. that is what i mean by not panicking. But at the time, even I thought Des look like a good option, and I don't think the problem was 100% Des, I'm glad to see the back of most of the people that have left since 2017. 

TOP 30:

Adam Elliott, Aiden Tolman, Brandon Wakeham, Chris Smith, Christian Chrichton, Corey Harawira-Naera, Danny Fualalo, Dylan Napa, Fa'amanu Brown, Francis Tualau, Jack Cogger, Jayden Okunbor, Jeremy Marshall-King, John Olive, Josh Jackson, Kerrod Holland, Kieran Foran, Lachlan Lewis, Marcelo Montoya, Michael Lichaa, Nick Meaney, Ofahiki Ogden, Raymond Faitala-Mariner, Reimis Smith, Renouf To'omaga, Rhyse Martin, Sauaso Sue, Will Hopoate, Zac Saddler

DEVELOPMENT PLAYERS:

Tui Katoa, Morgan Harper, James Roumanos, Jarred Anderson


I'm pleased that Okunbor, Saddler and Wakeham are in the top 30;
Prop is the main position that worries me.

Marki...I am going to invent a new game for you...called self flushing...I think it suits you..Go stick your head down the toilet and press the button. You will find in refreshing...whilst he may not be first pick I will support Napa as a Bulldog as ludicrous as the notion may sound. 

I'm worried that Harper isn't.
Centre is the position I fear we need to nail and I'm not sure we have the right cattle in the top 30 that can adequately cover it.

My dig was not at Napa, but rather the club and our predicament and recent culture with star players.

I wish the club flushed its head in the toilet and refreshed itself.......

Very disappointing that we've signed a player of the calibre of Napa with his lazy,  head leading tackling style. Dean has his work cut out getting a consistent effort out of him but we will have to trust his and the board's judgement and hope for the best. Hope we got a lot of change from swapping out Klem cos we still need a centre and dummy half.

Harper can play NRL after June 30.

We signed Pete Kelly and won two comps on his back. I'm not saying Dylan Napa is Pete Kelly, but Pete Kelly was much, much more the gamble signing in his day than Napa is now. If we signed Pete Kelly in the days of the internet the dogernet would be in absolute meltdown.

Our pack will be different next year, We'll lose something and gain something else. We'll need others to step up for the metres, including Napa who must do better. But there'll also be times in the middle of our ruck that it simply will be not be safe to run. At last.

Good gamble.

Pete Kelly is one of my favourite players, simply because all fans I like to win, and Pete won us plenty, sometimes before he even stepped onto the field. Simply because the opposition knew he was there, and that worried them.

Like Zef I'm hoping Deano is modelling our game on fast moving hard hitting defence, coupled with brisk skillful ball movement in attack.

We don't have the size or speed to play slow methodical football, getting into the arm wrestle and relying on set plays.

Let's take the opposition well out of their comfort zone or go all in trying to do that.   

I agree with you Zef.... I’m sure the club will extract more from Napa than the failed experiment with Aaron Woods!


Nancy..... you said Napa wasn’t going to happen the other day!!

Can you tell Bigbird his mail was wrong again

Def gotta agree Napa a better fit than Balsa.

I am feeling better about this Napa deal as the night goes on...


Earlier, when it was announced, It felt like I purchased category A tickets to a Dman concert at Homebush instead of Bon Jovi.

It can go either way. I think Napa is a perfect "piece", but he's not "the piece". We need others to step up into Klems boots, if that's done by a few then fine. I do have hope for Ogden, he could be anything... or nothing, we'll see. Sue and CNN bring their own different things, we need Martin to show the smarts and leaderships he showed in the Reggies final series - all these guys have to step up but if they do we got some options and balance there in the pack.

Napa's best used as a spec ops type. He just runs at X and only when X is isolated and just to hurt him. And to sit the biggest ones on their arse in D, hard. Use him as part of the whole, a specialised part.

Why didn't we get Kasiano back? 

The BDP is like a cat with 99 lives,  it just keeps going.... Much like many of our  "princesses in a dogs jersey" players dating back to the nineties but more in fashion in the 2000's and the trend lives on.... Colonel Klemmer. You are happy to be coached by Nathan Brown Paper Bag???

Anyway 2002 seems a long time ago when I visited rleague.com for the first time as NQ Doggy

I agree with Zef's take on the middle and the defence it will offer, I have nicknamed Napa "The Sandman" take your eye off him when running he could possibly knock you into Colonel Klemmers new house in Merewether. I am a fan of both Tolman and Lichaa as in defence they keep keep the middle tight. Lichaa I just wish when he darted out of dummy half he "did not" start looking for worms. I do that each morning it is not exciting. Keep your head up and run son. Tolman, yes I have thrown to odd empty XXXX Gold tinnie at the TV, the misso was not happy when the half full stubbie clocked the LG square on the screen, then decided to lick the beer off. I now have 3 empty tinnies by my side every dogs game. Tackle 4 and 5 Tols, inside the opps 10 take a leak out the back behind the kings nephew, like James Packer, no Russell Packer... Deano will fix that in 2019

Newcastle wanted a Klink, they got him: Napa, RFM, Ofahiki (who I think is a NZ international waiting to happen) ain't no Matt Orfords and a fast aggressive defence as Zef said, with the likes of Jesse Sue, CHN ( who looks more than the 96kgs stated on the site, Jackson and Dean Martin I like the look of the team. Would be awesome to still have the Morris twins but stiff shit we don't. We have who Pay and Co want, enough for me....

Go Dogs
Go Queensland
Go get Beer (note to self in morning when I read the site sorry!










 

Dman.... it seems you have family north of the border!!



Welcome aboard Cape

The catering SC

Marki and others reckon Bellamy could grab any park footballer and make him a superstar...they gave up on Kasiano..enough said

The mistake they made was getting him fit. He's perhaps the best 20 min footballer in the NRL and they tried to spread that out over 60 - weren't gonna happen, they just diluted him.

Kas needs Whoppers, Double Whoppers with cheese. Kas needs smokes, pack a day at minimum. Kas needs thickshakes. When Kas is match fit you can see the cellulite - on his face.

And his window's closing, if they reduce the interchange there'll be no room for 20 min footballers. So he better make the best of it while he can and get on with eating and hope someone will stick him on a bench for his 20 mins of magic before it's all too late.

FMD... Still on about Hasler???... Let it go!...
Happy with the Napa signing, will bring some much needed Mongrel since JGs release and Klem being castrated on black Friday...
I don't believe napas tackling style is lazy, he's had two issues since playing first grade... He sails close to the wind and IMO the risk worth it... Opposition players fear him, noone feared Klem (except the turfs fear of a rigorous rodgering every time he was tackled)...
And as I've said, it is simply not possible to make a front on shoulder tackle to the chest or mid section with anything but your head leading... Not possible... The style itself is textbook, just gotta work on point of contact a little lower...
Bring back the madness!...

Cheers CYD...

Best debut since since Banasta or SBW. Or best return since Elvis, take your pick.

So don't be sorry, never be sorry. If you ever think you need to be sorry about something - just deny, deny, deny.

Klem..
"I am putting what I believe is my family's best interests ahead of anything else... In business things happen"...
I might be able to get a job with the terrorcrap with that style of selective editing...

Hey dman, who's Hasler? and just digressing for a moment, I never rated Napa as a player, especially when he was with the rorters, and never would have liked to see him in a Bulldogs jersey, but guess what, he's with us so I will sit back as see how it all pans out. That's the thing about the dynamics of a team, each one is different and what suits a player for the Dogs may not necessarily see the same performance in another team. On the other hand they may have been good for us but absolute guns within a different group. Another thing that smells funny about Klemmers 5 year contract at Newcastle. He just baled out on us with two years still to run on his current contract, who in their right mind would trust someone who just did that to honour a 5 year deal. Oh well, that's their problem. Go the Dogs, I can feel an exciting season coming up.

I actually think the additions of Sue, CNN and now Napa waaaaaaaaay offset the loss of Klem - and I don't deny the loss.

But we can really revamp the pack and the way we play. Each of those three bring aggression in bucketloads and you can throw in Mad Adam Elliot too. Gonna be some dangerous f***in' places through our ruck next season.

And variety. Martin impressed the shit out of me during the Reggies finals - he's a leader. Ogdon's the best of the new wave IMO and could be a wrecking ball carrier - that's up to him.

It's a good pack, scary and skillful. A comp can be won with them.

BUT, will take another year at least and maybe more recruits to get the spine and outside backs complete. Some may be the long term answer but even those that are need the time to make themselves (Lewis, JMK, Smith, Cogger, Meaney and a few others in the mix that could, should, develop into lock-ins).

All a work in progress but there's a lot to be excited about.

And this year, is the year Coach Pay starts to get judged too. I had my doubts around the middle of last season but I will say he held himself and the team together well in the face of the worst cards a first coach has been dealt for... like forever.... (at least at our club) and he had us playing some damn good football at times the second half of the season so he starts season 2019 in credit.

But it is a tough world so I expect to see us going forward, not back or treading water. And that's on him.

I'm really excited... Fresh squad for the most part, and as Zef said plenty aggression in the pack... Not much was said of it last year, but we completely lost our bite with JGs leaving...
Much hinges on Forans fitness or lack of this year, I hope he can get thru the season, cos he gives us the greatest likelihood of finals.. If not I hope his fitness fails fast and we can settle quickly who will be The Prince's halves partner.

Why would Wally fldo the Broncs that favour?...
And I'm sure Lachy's manager (and the rest) are aware of the incentives the broncs via the thoroughbreds can offer...

What I'm looking for in 2019 is evidence of a reset, that Pay is working toward a new and different playing style.

Football is a simple game, we have good depth in 2019 squad with a possibility for some young guys to step up.
Overall the pack has better depth than compared to 2018, but might have a slight loss of quality with Klem going.
In the halves we have Foran, Lewis, Cogger, and Wakeham.
And we have Meaney as a potential candidate for fullback.
Depending on how the young guys step up and how many games Foran plays, this might be the best spine for some time.
Our development squad players look good to me, so we have a fairly capable 34 man squad, with good options in most positions, perhaps missing a bit of experience and quality.

So I want to see signings of improvement, that we seem to be working toward and plan and a new playing style and that we have recruited the right players, my sense is that if we get all that, we might be a bit of a surprise packet in 2019.

If I had to sum up 2018, particularly the first half of the season, the team lacked quality, decision making and execution, at critical times, and we found a way to lose. That was mainly the halves, and the emergence of Lewis late in the season, fixed a lot of that.

Anyway, "Bring On The Madness".