I think nostalgia can be misleading. Everyone has an opinion and no one is right.
But Dman is mostly right in that players shoudl be made to play the ball properly and forward passes should be ruled on.
If you have ever played league or touch with the 10 metre rule, you know why it is a good idea, even the fittest teams will struggle to maintain line speed when the opposition  has a flow of possession,
As always refs need to be more consistent, but less is more, I would strike out the "dominant tackle" rule that adds nothing to the game.
In the ruck there are a lot of 50/50 calls and an overzealous ref can probably find a penalty on every play the ball.
The game flowing is essential to a sport like League or soccer where the flow and pace of the game is part of the game, less important in cricket or tennis where the game is naturally stop/start and there are fewer grey areas.
In another sport a mate of mine was a rep player and rep players had to ref, and were formally reviewed after the game.
He was told "You blew too many Penalties" He said "Yes, but everyone was correct", They said "Yes, but you blew too many penalties".
When we informally discussed this in a group of players, everyone including the player who was criticised agreed the reviewing officials were right.
Where he went wrong is, he didn't have a feel for the game, and  didn't let the game flow.
Where the NRL ref are going wrong is simply consistency, and an occasional not picking penalty against a team under the pump. 
Tidy up the areas Dman mentioned and see how the game goes.
When the ref blows the whistle too much the game becomes slow stop/start and like NFL, coaches love that, it becomes 2 coaches playing chess, rather than players deciding the outcome. I 100% want the players deciding the outcome, even if my team gets flogged, because that is how league is supposed to be played.

hounddog, I agree 100%. If your team gets beaten because they were outplayed by the opposition then you accept the loss but if the opposition outplay your team because the referee has given them an advantage and allowed them to be dominant then that is unacceptable and the NRLol are fully responsible for that situation. Unfortunately we see this week in week out where referees are not only inconsistant from week to week, they are inconsistant during a single game.

Villi, the issue with the Dogs has long been that we seem to hold on to players 1 or 2 years too long rather than move them at a time best suited to the clubs on field performance. 

The counter arguement is that we are a club that looks after players and their careers.

On too many occasions I feel we focus too much on point 2 to the detriment of point 1. We are a competitive sport club after all, not a retirement home. 

On that note, I would say that we shouldnt both re-signing guys like Tolman on big money when we can get a younger guy from reserves at close to minimum wage or 200k. Even if the younger guy can only play at 80% of of say Tolmsan, his 30% price tage makes him a far better value for money return.

The club needs to re-adjust its SC spending spread more evenly with a greater focus on what we lack - which is backs, halves and hooker. 

I will say this......
For a club regarded as having a good supply of forwards and back rowers, we shouldnt be concerned about losing these guys for big money offers. We should cap our spend and if the choose to leave, good luck. If we are not intent to bring through good backs and halves, we have to be prepared to recruit them and therefore or SC focus HAS to reflect that.

Some teams are good at bringing through fast outside backs but dont have quality forward stocks (Raiders, Titans, Knights, Warriors). They accept this do they go out and buy forwards. Others have good forwards but needs backs. We are one of them.

Yet for too long, we have misplaced our SC on a type of player we dont need. 

Even in this last year, Pay has made this mistake. 

So the jury is out on whether we have learnt anything.

It's no surprise the New Breed (Patten, Vagana, Whippet) brought the club success in early 00's, and once again the recruitment drive for '09 (Goodwin, JMoz, Kimmorley) did the same for the 5 or so years later.

We have lost the ability to be a successful club in the modern era.

Marki it is more fundamental, 1978-1988 our club was top of the pile or close to the top in the key areas:-
Junior development / scouting / player development / fitness/ coaching / administration / marketing / finance.

Fast forward to 2017 and the club is close to the bottom of the pile in all those areas, the one area where we almost hung on to past glories - was in club culture and work ethic.

So really the board and Pay are rebuilding the club from the bottom up - Junior development / scouting / player development - are the key areas most likely to determine our future success.

It will be a long time before we are able to rebuild the brand/ image / marketing  / finances to the level where we can be one of the top clubs.

When we can't spend more we need to spend smarter, we need to see what pay does with the team this year and how our new recruits go, I'm far form convinced we got it right, but we are working on the right ares mainly the spine.
 
The one shining light for us is Lewis really looks the goods to me, even when we lose, we need to find similar player in key spine positions and I think we need more size in the starting pack.

Rebuilding the side and the club is more of a long term project, but I want to be sure we are going in the right direction.

At board/admin level, I think we are doing much better, in terms of coaching and recruitment, I'm prepared to judge that at the end of the season as there is plenty of time to decide the issue one way or another.

t p j  , you must be dreaming villi , his price tag will be around 1 mill as he did only sign till end of this year ,you watch old grand pa wayne bennet try bring him 2 redfren along with rust crow who will do a 3rd party deal some how how he will never come 2 us as the club says our cap is totaly
a debarkle 

personally  heads should of rolled for this game ill reserve my judgement till after fulltime ,i hope we can win but if parra beat us with NO micheal jennings  no excuse period , if only foran can do his talking on the park i guess we shall see 

Regardless Tony, this is one thing our club is currently lacking, some super-sized madness.

Sorting out the spine has to be the priority and being seen to be a competitive club, find good young (relatively unknown) players with size and bring them though the grades.

OK if we can get some good forwards for a good price then pounce, Herman only got a run at Newcastle because they had an injury,  thati s the kind of player we need to sign, an young forward with some NRL experience, who can't get regular game time at their current club.

By all means have a crack at TPJ - if nothing else we will help force his price up, if we can get him for what we were paying Klem it is a good deal, I rate TPJ equal/better than Klem on current form.

We should def be openly chasing TPJ to at least bump up his price while working in the background to get Flegler... Would also like to see us have a crack at The Horse from Canberra...

At the end of the day, politics, crowd, and the thoroughbreds will attract and retain whomever they want (at arms length ahem) under the NRLols mandated salary cap rort TPAs...

#todd&comustgo...
#dismantletherlc...

Politis, Crowe*

TPJ is exactly what our team needs.... trade in Tolman/Lichaa/Fualalo for TPJ any day of the week

3 for 1


Looks like we’ve all but snapped up that Robson No9 from Dragons


Then spend the rest of our $$$ on the backline

Did you come from the Dib School of Finance and Salary Cap Management?...
Trade about $700K worth of talent (on the open market) for a million dollar player, add and the have to fill two more spots for another minimum $180k with money left over to spend on backs???...

Its called a Pyramid Scheme.....



Roosters, Bronco’s etc.... all in favour of it

Villi's theory is TPJ and Coote can beat any 17. 😊

Probably more like the Sharks 2016 school of salary cap management......

…..that wasn't a dig at villi.....but rather the sharks of 2016

So now that I’ve solved the TPJ scenario.....


Now I’ve got to work on what 3 for 1 deal to get Lachlan Coote over to the Dogs

round the grounds  wentworthville  magpies 12 _ bulldogs -6   our reggies are poor  players like harper ,olive very very poor  so far

now i know why cogger is in our reggies  no where near nrl  & cant see him anytime soon good passenger is on chanel 9 live if anyone is interested

Coggers a tough little player, but def not ready for 1st grade, this season will hold him in good stead... Ofa and Smith very solid again... The Bros Mars OK, olive has been better... Harps has potential but not yet ready, no major issues just raw...
Meaney nowhere near first grade, he has a very real disinclination to out his body on the line, with and without the ball... Okunbur has feet for hands and is ordinary in D...

Surely in your dealings you can convince a SL club to take the 2020 man of steel Michael lichaa of our hands...

Nick Meaney has had a shocker so far...


Ogden the ONLY player that’s looked like a first grader in Reggies

Rhyse Martin with a dummy half scoot..... something I’ve never seen a Bulldogs player do in 3yrs...... AND SCORES

I can't get the game in QLD our dinosaurs are taking a rest , I'm busy trying to invent fire.

But looking at the stats we haven't had much ball.
Looking at the big picture is is important that we can sign good young players and turn them into NRL footballers.
Hoppa a fullback is code for not being a contender, if Meaney turns into the next Brad Abbey find the next option.

This winger from bloody Wenworthville is having a blinder.... built & runs like Matt Utai


Again,.... Nick Meaney is having a bloody shocker of a game

nick meany  cant tackle  noooo  where nrl ready  i still think reecy martin probably our best & he only is ready for when pay wants him the rest well enough said guys like oliver , harper again cant see them anytime soon , meany no time soon , okenbar has had a good game , ogden went ok but the rest , josh bergamin playing for wenty played good 

Hehehe...

We made 4 errors with ball in hand in our first 6 sets... Not having loomed the stats we've probably made another 4-6...

Not oy us that winger built Villi,  his footwork is amazing...

Dogs in good long ball from cogger across the face of 3, 3m forward tap on from Harper to OK... Martin from sideline to level at 24 all... Missed..
Please anyone that watched this game don't start calling for Martin to hooker, he can't pass left to right...

OK been better in second 40, olive regressed... Martin and Ogden have done enough to get a shot if our forwards don't perform...
Agree re assessment of burgerman.... Keirghan their rake also good...

Not sure why we let Bergamin and Miller go, might just bt churning in the lower grades with players moving looking for an opportunity.

greg lellisesio  no 5 for wnty  he reminds me  of matt utai what a powehouse winger  is not a bad player

And post game interview shows hes humble...