I think as an Eels fan or a fan of any club other than the dogs, these things would seem logical, but dogs fans naturally watch our own club closer than anyone else.
DWZ and Hoppa are unlikely to be extended beyond 22, or if they are, they will be on significantly less money that’s why they are filling these positions. Hooker remains probably the highest priority and the club is aware of that, they are just playing it smart to target the right player rather than the moves they made in the past and rushing on any available player in that position.
The signing of Barrett in my opinion is very positive. He has recognised and acknowledged his own short comings in his time at Manly and has come some way since then. He has also surrounded himself with a strong coaching squad with a range of experience and knowledge, not in the least using Steve Hansen as his mentor.
As much as I respect and admire Pay as a player, he didnt cut it as a coach.
Yes, he had a pretty average squad to work with but he also lacks the experience, tactics and talent as a coach to get the job done. While he might have had the buy in from players who wanted to turn up for him, there were a lot of deficiencies in his coaching. I for one, cant really think of any players who improved under his tenure, though note several who declined. His team selections and bench rotations were also puzzling at best.
As a dogs fan, this is the most optimistic I have been for improvement since probably 2009 where with some astute signings, we went from 16th in 2008 to 2nd in 2009. Not saying we will be coming 2nd next year by any means, but I think we will surprise a few.

Clearly you have been living under a rock for the past 3 months.
The club has resolved the infighting, have a major sponsor and have a coaching staff that players want to be a part of.

You will have egg on your face in years to come with your bottom 8 predictions, I assure you.

Unfortunately Cotric was a desperation signing when the club was in chaos. Great player but was thrown massive overs by the club to try and give the fans and sponsors some comfort that they were improving things.
Dean Pay was on his way out, the board were fighting with eachother and the Andersons had their mitts on everything and shackles on Andrew Hill.

Fast forward a few months, they have signed Barrett and a strong coaching squad, fixed the board issues, got a major sponsor who wants the club to succeed and made major recruitment moves. The club is much more attractive now than it was then and I think most can see that it is on the way up in a big way.

Reimis will do well under Bellamy for a year
Has the talent and ability, just had a poor attitude and not great coaching.
If he gets his attitude right down there and realises that he is a winger, not a centre, he will be a bargain.

A true legend of the game and hardly gets the recognition he deserves.
All the fanfare for Cameron Smith’s 400 games, which no doubt is an outstanding achievement.
James Graham has played over 400 games in the top grade as a middle forward who has never shied away from heavy confrontations and collisions.
Its unbelievable that he has been able to play this long, in the way he plays the game.
As great as he is, Smith doesn’t take hitups or make any hard hits, so it makes it easier to get that longevity.

Congratulations on a stellar career James, there are very few out there that play with the passion, determination and drive that you did. I hope we see you around the NRL again at some point after your retirement.

I didn’t realise Victoria was the only state to be affected by Covid…
Many people in NSW and QLD didn’t get to attend games this year either as even when the gates opened again, the numbers are reduced.
And while we’re at it, lets blame the NSW government for not letting any more infected people in the state, how dare they! It worked so well last time they allowed it……….

A team without a salary cap would make most coaches look good.

I guess it depends what your source is, I saw a stat that said dogs were the youngest with average age of 22.5 years. Anyway, like I said, this isn’t a cut and dry indicator anyway as evidenced by the Panthers.

Sorry Matt, you are right.
After reading Thomas C’s response and then I saw what looked like further excuses at the start of your response, I tuned out to the rest of what was said 😱
Thomas was blaming suspensions and COVID for their specific impact on the Broncos alone which didn’t sit well with me.
Also while I agree that the management has some blame to take, the bottom line is that the players for the most part have just been disinterested and unmotivated – They don’t turn up to most games. Or if they do, its for the first 20 minutes and then they fall apart.
It’s hard to say anyone ‘deserves to get the spoon’, though if you were to give it some context and ask people ‘who should get the spoon, the dogs or broncos?’, perhaps that might change their answer.
The dogs were disappointing yes, but they put the effort in and tried hard.
There were a few games where literally a refereeing blunder literally cost them the game – Think Chris Sutton in the Eels game calling an incorrect obstruction penalty against the dogs in a try scoring situation (They literally scored) without going to the bunker. I have literally NEVER seen an obstruction penalty called in a try scoring situation, it ALWAYS is allowed to play through and go to the bunker. The dogs lost by 2 points.
The Suttons are a blight on the game but thats for another day.

The fact that you both reference a huge injury/suspension toll, a ‘young team’ or lack of leadership as an excuse is pretty laughable.
The entire NRL is having an unprecedented year of injuries, the entire NRL is also facing the effects of COVID; neither of these are unique to the Broncos nor is the 6 again rule (Don’t get me started on that).
The suspension reference is even more laughable – This is directly in the hands of the team and shows poor leadership and discipline. TPJ has a shocking history of discipline and seems nothing has been done to arrest this trend.
A young team – The dogs actually have the ‘youngest’ average age team in the NRL and while they lack talent, they don’t lack the heart, passion or desire that can be said for the majority of the broncos outfit (Yes there are a few exceptions). Penrith also have a relatively young side and look where they are.
The lack of leadership is entirely of their own doing; hoarding all the young talent from their vast nursery of players has backfired massively in that they could not retain their leaders bar Boyd who they couldn’t pay to get rid of.
These are the sort of excuses that poisons culture and leads to poor performance.
It’s the same rhetoric that Dean Pay continuously used saying he had a young team, etc etc.
Yes, he did have a young team but there were also poor team selections, roster management, game plans and bench rotations in play.

Unfortunately for Dean as much as I respect him, it seems NRL coaching was out of his depth. Great guy and the players do want to play for him which is half the battle but his team selections, tactics, bench rotation and game plan were VERY poor.

its funny how media all say that Dean was shafted by the club whereas they say Mary etc, all made the decision to leave. Dean was not sacked, he was just not being renewed once his contract expires and decided to walk early.

Hey, woah, hold up.
Dont bring dogs in to Canberra’s dirty tactics, the DOGS (Bulldogs) dont have any of this in their game. They are actually not aggressive enough and need to actually have more mongrel in them but having mongrel doesn’t mean you need to get dirty.

Okunbur, yes. CHN, no; he was not part of the school visit, but it was easier and more sensational for the media to tar him with the same brush.
MY point with regards to Coffs Harbour and this is that the media love to manipulate stories and make no effort to separate fact from fiction when pushing their agenda.
They were caught out on this with Coffs but the tiny little redaction they were forced to make paled in comparison to the ‘RAPE’ stories that tarnished the dogs for years and still does, regardless whether it was true or not.

Sure, it might have been in poor taste and disrespectful to the women involved, I am not saying I condone it. However, it was found to be consensual, so who are we to judge if it was what she wanted?

You know that nothing illegal actually occurred in Coffs Harbour right? News producers were made to publish redactions and apologies for pushing rumours as ‘truths’ which evidently has caused serious damage to the club’s reputation.

Stu, the performance was atrocious, no doubt, though I wouldnt put it near the efforts from the Broncos in recent weeks. The Broncos have a far superior roster to the dogs, but they have no heart or desire, something the dogs can generally say they have.
No one can argue the terrible position Dean Pay signed up for but the biggest issue is that we are not seeing improvement in the squad that is there. Attacking structures are minimal and predictable, passing is slow and not crisp which slows plays down, forwards are not rolling down the park because the play the ball and passing are too slow. Forwards are looking gassed which leads me to the next point – Bench rotations. The player selection and rotation off the bench has been puzzling for some time and while I think there has been some improvement here, it leaves a lot to be desired. Finally, as a coach with a poor squad, you need to control what you can control. Yes, it is a roster lacking talent, so then they should be training the house down to be THE fittest team in the NRL. You might not be able to coach natural talent, but the coaching team should then be drilling them to be fit so that they are not gassed on the field; missing tackles, slow to get back to the play, weak hit ups, losing the ruck.
It truly pains me to see where the club is right now, from a powerhouse to the slums.

Probably because he is slow, has no direction, creativity and lacks the very fundamental ability of a half – The ability to pass! Sure, he can tackle front on well and occasionally land a bomb a meter out from the tryline, but really, what else does he add?
For me, he is Michael Lichaa 2.0 – He completely stifles what little attack we have with poor passing.

Up until last week against the Tigers, I had Wakeham as the 7 and Foran at 6 but it was a shocker for Wakeham, though to be fair, the dogs were bad across the whole park. With Averillo who I highly rate as a small shining light for the dogs and Hopoate out, the two most creative and silky players are MIA.

If you had read what I wrote, I stated that the redactions and apologies were published for the Coffs Harbour beat up as it was announced as untrue, though you insinuated that this forms part of an apparent history of sexual abuse at the Dogs. None of which has occurred.

Hmm let’s see..
In the last ~12 months alone; Panthers, St George.
While they were not travelling as a team, two or more players gathering together during pre-season can constitute as a work social event (Sanctioned by the club or not). Their ‘alleged’ actions to me are FAR, FAR worse than anything two bulldogs players have done.

And if you are making reference to the sensationalised media garbage of Coffs Harbour, you should be aware that this was determined to be not true – Media had to publish redactions and apologies for their beat up.

So, all said, one LEGAL sexual encounter (Albeit immoral and wrong), where ZERO sexual abuse took place would rank lower than many clubs I would say.

See yourself out.

So your point is redundant.
May be better to say that there is ‘something fundamentally wrong with the culture in the NRL’, rather than singling a club out that hasn’t been as bad as some others…

If you think the dogs are the only team to have a history of players behaving poorly then you need to wake up.

Absolutely not, in fact, quiet the contrary.
Every work place has its idiots who act on their own accord. It does not mean that workplace aligns with those actions or values.
The club acted swiftly and harshly to show that this is not what they stand for.

On the flip side, have a look at clubs who stand behind their players actions as opposed to demonstrating it isnt acceptable. Raiders – Curtis Scott bashing cops. Brisbane Broncos – Matt Lodge bashing an innocent man and completely terrorising and traumatising their family, David Fafita attacking security and yet they bail him out in a cover up and say he did nothing wrong…
Souths – Countless Domestic Violence issues, drink driving issues and the Burgess social media harrassment was just swept under the rug.

Completely wrong.

But that is the whole point.
Any shred of new information they give would lead to endless amounts of further speculation and rhetoric. It makes sense to withhold the information as much as possible while the situation is still unfolding.

Who else was found to have systematically rorted the cap as bad as they did and didn’t have their premierships removed?
This is a terrible counter argument 😂 😂 😂

Hey, you’re on a hot streak, don’t stop now!