You are certainly right about the second part.

You can try marketing players like Tolman all you like...... but you may as well use those Meerkats from compare the market coz they have more personality.

The thing with me is that other than football talent, I dont see the players as anything more than footy players.

I dont look up to them, I dont emulate them, they are not my role models for anything other than footy.

In fact it's the same for all sportspersons. 

In fact I have a liking for players who might come across as arrogant or a show off but can back up and prove themselves.

It's why I love it when Addo-Carr or Ferguson score an impossible try and show off in their try celebrations. 

You cant compare a salary cap competition with a free for all comp......

If one ventures into the social media pages and reads some of the comments made by supporters of other clubs, they are all singing the praises of TTT for deregistering JO and CHN for their "totally disgusting" and predatory  actions, in addition to smearing the Dogs with the "its typical of their players" type of attitude. What p!sses me off more than anything, is later down the track, these same sanctimonious pieces of excrement will sweep all this ruckus under the carpet, conveniently forget about it and support their own club/s for signing up JO and CHN. And what will p!ss me off even more is that TTT will sanction it.

The point I'm making is it takes a long time to build success.

It is important to get coaching and admin right.

I don't know if Pay and the current Admin are right people, but I know they are an improvement on the previous lot.

Sport is sport, money helps build success but it is only part of the picture...

You build success by building on your strengths and recruiting to improve your weaknesses.

If football terms CHN was a great recruitment decision, at the time we didn't know how this would play out... no one plans for this kind of off field drama..

We need to recruit a similar player in fact we need more punch in the forwards...

It took Ferguson 3-4 years of recruiting to build a team, that is with no salary cap drama, more talent available, and lots of money to play with..

So far Pay hasn't had much of a shot in recruiting talent, having money to play with or coaching talent... coaching a lack of talent is different to coaching talent, success at one doesn't always translate to the other... I would like to see him get a shot with talent, if nothing else the next guy steps into a good situation. 

Something worth pointing out here, courtesy of Anna who noted it on the FB page.

Since 2004, we've had a clear policy that players are not to bring women back to motel rooms when we're on trips. and this is re-iterated to them EVERY TIME we go on trips. So it would've been AGAIN when we went to Port Mac.

So neither of these players can say they were blindsided by standards we didn't make clear to them. In fact they just decided my dick rules, f*** the club, f*** the coach, f*** my team-mates.

Does anybody think they would've been welcomed back by the playing group anyway? 

Looking at who we could recruit for 2020 this is the list of names I've given to Villi:-

Jamil Hopate, Nick Cotric, Jayson Bukuya, Keegan Hipgrave, Cooper Johns, Isiah Palpai'i, Nathaniel Roache, Reed Mahoney, Tom Armone, Tristain Sailor, Nico Hynes, Justin Olam, Jacob Saifiti, Anthony Don.

It wasn't hard at all to come up with this list and I'm pleased to have the Don on the list..

So I think in the current environment having money to spend for 2021 isn't a bad outcome, any gaps we have in the top 30 there is a guy I have identified here who can fill that gap.

Of course we might not get them, but worth a crack... 

Jamil Hopate - seems to me like a guy with a great attitude who might do well with his brother at the club, he has done time, but looks like he wants to make up for lost time, is grateful for an opportunity and really puts in, the Broncs have so many good forwards he might not even be assured of regular game time or a starting position.

Keegan Hipgrave / Nathaniel Roache, we would need to check where these guys are at in terms of fitness and injuries, fully fit both have something to offer.

As Luke Thompson is coming, we don;t need to go over board on props ... just sign one young big guy who runs hard and makes yards.

I think we let Cogger, Foran, Holland, Montoya, and Sue go...CHN and OK are gone.. maybe let another 1-2 young guys go...

With Thompson that is about 7-9 players  we are recruiting which is a good refresh.

So we need 6-8 names from my list, similar players, or young guys with talent..

In that situation we want something like 4-5 guys with solid NRL experience...  

Very doable..

I've come to the conclusion that Pay is a good assistant coach, but lacks the ability to take team to the next level.

I know he stepped into a restricted landscape at our club and I praise him for giving players a go and keeping the players united, but it's now wearing thin and I'm not seeing us move into a direction that I believe will yield success.

Let's use this covid break as an opportunity to wipe the slate clean (and I mean completely clean) and start over. 

We need a complete restart. Just pretend we are a new club venture with no ties to incumbent coach or players. Maybe keep 3 at most from the current crop if they have legal enforced contracts. That's it.

I am inclined to give Pay one season with talent and see how he goes.

If he was a dud coach we would be on track to collect our 3rd spoon in a row, he hasn't had much talent to work with.

Impressive IMO was getting the season back on track last year after a horror start and the defection of Klem. He had to get the players to buy in mid season.

This year the CHN and OK debarcle is snother problem not of his making.
But he hsd the smarts to pick Averillo and the guts to give him a shot, that shows an instinct for the game.

Put it together, he was inexperienced but is a good learner, he is s good man manager with an instinct for the game, one season with talent is enough to find out, and the club needs to recruit smartly to give him a shot.
This time next year we will know for sure, because we should fly out of the blocks next season if I'm right.

I dont agree.
It's easier to blood players when your team is languishing at the bottom of the table with glaring issues week to week. Theres no risk coz it cant really get any worse.

The real coaches are the ones that build the team to the top and make the daring moves of blooding players in an already strong team or even better.....releasing players sooner rather than later do as not to lose the younger talent. 
Bennett is probably the master at this and his 6 premierships are no fluke. His mindset of winning games by outscoring the opposition has kept with the times and allowed him to reinvent himself. Sure, you need good defence to win premierships, but you need to get there. And having a team that can outscore most opposition most times gives you that chance.

A short term 2020 replacement for JO who could come cheap is Jordan Rapana.... if he comes good, maybe extend him into 2021. 

Hard to be at the top of the table when you don't have the players 
.How did Bennett go at Newscastle?

Classic example. Clive Churchill berries v Clive Churchill rabbits.

andrew johns saying 1 nrl team already speaking 2 cory haraweria naeira & predicks it isnt the end of him 

i do see the difference Mooloobadog  adam elliett got charged  he got suspended ,cory haraweira naeira DIDNT get any police report or got charged or got a fine of anything 
its he went behind closed doors no one knows what happened behind those doors BUT my point is cory got sacked & adam elliett being drunk being naked in public DIDNT get sacked its a no brainer elliett brought our club down in the highest order thats all i have on this 

Move on guys.... 

Elloitt wasn't naked in puplic he was naked at a private function and visible if you climb at tree with a telephoto lens, going to that much trouble to see Elliott in the buff isn't my thing.

CHN is s good player, I'm slightly surprised that we sacked him and he will get a gig elsewhere. Even Okunbor will turn up somewhere. 

The club management had all the facts and I trust their judgement it is 30 years since I have had that level of trust in our management.

It all starts at the front office. The management team and Pay could not have inherited a bigger mess. They don't need players ignoring explict club rules on trips damaging the clubs reputation and costing sponsors.

Notice most opposition fans knew that the Elliott thing was a beat up and no one was hurt. The opposition fans are taking a tougher line here, they have more to work with, that is mostly down to Okunbor who was extremely stupid, CHN was only slightly stupid and a bit unlucky. But we have the rules for a reason and the rules are a joke if they are not enforced.

Elloitt was lucky the rules explictly permit sweet caroline, any Bob Dylan number would have got him sacked.

bulldogs have 3 spots to fill only have 27 plays on there books but seems no one knows what the cap will be now for next year so again we probably will be like dean pay 
says it is what it is i hate thoses words  

But even then the hypocritical moralists feigning disgust were the only ones remotely hurt unlike ...but for the grace of god...Inglis speeding whilst drunk...

A salary cap change will be a real can of worms for the NRL.  They have said that the existing player contracts are protected going forward.  This means that a lot of contracts will have been written under the current cap.  This would have to be reconciled with a new cap.  Much more negotiating to come.

Renegotiation of contracts mean squat diddly to teams like the rorters. No matter what the players are paid "officially", nick will always have a bucketful of brown paper bags to entice the best to Bondi.

And steve, talking about hypocritical moralists, just watch their attitudes do the backflip when their team picks up CHN. Out of this entire debacle the only casualty is the Bulldogs.......... (again).

Good example...total lack of success at Canterbury...underwhelming is being kind

what if the girl OK and CHN shagged was named Caroline...?
And what if she was sweet?

I might be totally off the track here but from time to time the site gets a little slow. There are however usually quite a number of guests.  Should the guests be actively encouraged to become members and participate in debate. I realise some may be other club supporters but that doesn't matter. By being guests they are showing an interest. A diversity of opinion can't hurt.  After all we have plenty here that can give as good as they get

Well I've certainly flattened the curve....
My Samsung Health app indicates my Steps have reduced to an average of around 900 most days....

This is at the expense of of my waistline...

The more the merrier says I... 

As long as they agree with me.....its no problem!

But they must adhere to the electronic social distancing rules ....

You cant debate more than 2 times with another poster on a topic!