The Roar
The Roar

The Roar

The Barry

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Joined July 2010

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I think it might have been longer than that but so what? If I have an opinion of a team two years ago that needs to stay the same for how long?

In that time Frizell has gone from part time rep player to regular, JDB, Sims and Vaughan have become a rep player, they’ve signed internationals Ben Hunt and James Graham. Widdop has rediscovered form after being in the worst form of his career in 2016 and other players have emerged

There’s a lot of teams and coaches who’d love to have pretty much an all Origin / international level pack and halves

How long can the Dragons give McGregor to turn it around?

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1d

Did not get to listen to the podcast yet but who knows how long McGregor will get…he seems to be leading a charmed life.

In 15 and 16 the Dragons attack was absolutely grim

He turned it around in 17 and 18 but with two of the all time great choke seasons. After the starts the Dragons had they should have been challenging for the title but missed the eight and then dropped out in week two

In 19 it was back to sub-mediocrity. Results are bad considering the roster’s they’ve but they’ve also had the hallmarks of a poorly coached team

Their attack under McGregor but for two half seasons has looked clunky and disjointed. Promising young players, particularly in the backs have gone backwards, recruitment and retention has been questionable. McGregor has shown at best reluctance or at worst ineptitude to change personnel or tactics regardless of how bad the slide has been

I’m sure people will point to some young players getting blooded in 2019 but McGregor’s hand was forced in most of them. For a lot of the early part of the season, the strategy seemed to be to rotate wingers in and out of the side

Poor results are not always the coaches fault but it’s hard to articulate anything positive that’s come out of McGregor’s time in charge

How long can the Dragons give McGregor to turn it around?

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1d

I should also add that you have to consistently reward good behaviour with a good outcome too to reinforce that…although it’s more challenging as ‘good’ is mostly the expected outcome

A guaranteed way to rein in off-season bad behaviour

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3d

Sorry, I should actually put that in context. I’m not a fan of this idea of EVERY first offence gets six weeks, EVERY second offence gets 12 etc.

I think it’s unworkable and would immediately lead to inconsistency. Someone gets fined for jaywalking – 6 weeks. Someone charged with assault – 6 weeks. That’s not consistency

When I speak about consistency I mean that negative behaviours have to be met with negative outcomes. If negative behaviours are met with positive or neutral outcomes the behaviour is reinforced

You have to be consistent in that approach, not that every punishment for every offence is exactly the same

A guaranteed way to rein in off-season bad behaviour

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3d

I don’t think I could stand it…ever since 2014 that song has made me feel unwell… 😁

Have Matterson and Mitchell ultimately cost themselves money?

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2d

I for one want to hear Latrell sing with the bunnies… 😁

Have Matterson and Mitchell ultimately cost themselves money?

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2d

The older I get the more convinced I am that what you’re describing applies to managing almost every relationship whether it’s raising children, managing staff, training a dog

Of course the standards and techniques change but the principles of setting standards, making consequences clear and being consistent never change

A guaranteed way to rein in off-season bad behaviour

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3d

It is a s/hole

I took the family in July this year…lovely hotel, lovely staff but as soon as you step outside the door it’s grotty and every person is trying to rip you off with every interaction

You can’t walk down the street without without being constantly pestered. One shopkeeper grabbed my 9 year olds arm and tried to drag him into the shop…scared the hell out of him

First morning we walked down to the beach to see a dog squeezing out a major. The beach is loaded with dogs, their filth and general rubbish. The water smells like raw sewerage

We went on a couple of road trips and saw some relatively nice places but even cheap as chips isn’t worth it. I’m amazed it’s so popular a destination…never again for me

Broncos' David Fifita arrested in Bali

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3d

Newsflash: highly paid, young athlete drives flash car

I agree that we as consumers are PART of the problem. If we boycotted these articles and stuck to sports related stories everything would be turned on it’s head.

The thing is we love rugby league and while greater population that couldn’t give a stuff about what jersey Latrell wears next year, we do care.

We’ll click these articles and read the stories.

But we don’t ask them to be written this way. We don’t ask to have to interpret what’s fact and what’s agenda driven spin laced through stories by journos desperate to protect relationships with players, their managers, clubs and their officials. We don’t ask journos to continually scrape the bottom of the barrel

So the old “don’t shoot the messenger, we’re just noble pursuers of the truth giving you bottom feeders what you want you want” is a massive furphy

The mysterious case of Latrell Mitchell's Mercedes

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4d

Funny read Dane

Starting to feel sorry for Kieran though. Absolutely can’t win a trick

Played some great footy this season when he was on the park but 26 games in 2 years at 2 million bucks is a poor return. Thanks Des

Probably a good example of what can happen when battling clubs pay massive overs for players with question marks. Great player at his peak but at the end of 2017 when the Dogs signed him he wasn’t worth anywhere near 1M a season

What's left of Kieran Foran vows to return in 2020

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5d

I’m not saying there’s a grand history of 120kg halfbacks, I’m just saying there’s no rule against it and that players aren’t paid according to weight. Both of those statements are pretty much irrefutable

Decisions about who was made an immortal from the eras between 1908 and say 2000 aren’t really relevant to how the game is played and how positions are judged today

I appreciate and agree with the argument that it’s a team game and you can’t win with just good spine players and nothing else. But that doesn’t mean props are more valuable than halfbacks

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

What are you talking about now?

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

Knees for backs

Shoulders for forwards

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

No, not their weight

Players aren’t told to get on a scale and that will determine what they’ll get paid

And I’d suggest nimbleness and agility are well down the list of skills required of a quality halfback

While unlikely there’s no rule a halfback can’t be 120kgs

As good as they may be big men are far, far more replaceable than a top shelf halfback

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

He can articulate your point but you can’t. Sad

It’s still wrong though even with Spruce kindly providing the translation from gibberish

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

I think you’re generous to attribute that point to Jacko

If course not every halfback will be valued better than the best prop. Overall spine players are going to attract more coin because their skill sets are rarer than the skill sets / physical attributes that make the best props

I’d also suggest the drop off from the best hooker and halves to the average is much steeper than from the best props to the average

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

They’re not being consigned to less money because of their weight it’s because of their skill set

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

I don’t know what you’re on about… who suggested playing with 13 halfbacks or 13 props?

Clearly some positions contribute to wins more than others and have skill sets that are more difficult to replicate…otherwise everyone would be in the same money

There’s no way in the world the best prop = best halfback = best winger etc

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

I don’t want to debate what type of car he is but the point is if work rate increases then there may be a trade off elsewhere

Tupou was in the top couple in the comp for metres and post contact metres this season. Again, don’t want to debate what animal he looks like but that doesn’t sound like a giraffe under assault

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

That’s pretty similar ranking but it’s tough having so few bands and it gets really hard when you start trying to putting price tags on those bands.

It also gets confusing quickly when you start thinking about permutations eg including a Ferguson or Mitchell in your squad in a position you haven’t allocated a lot of funds for

One of the easier ways is as you’ve pointed out is to have a strong edge and a weaker edge. While a lot of clubs do that I’m not sure it’s a great recipe for success

Even allowing for 13 players on the minimum the costs blow out quickly

It will be interesting to watch Des and Manly manage their cap if they have three players taking up 3.3M on long deals, then their next tier of players like Walker, Taupau and AFB on 500K per season

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

I agree with all of that but come back to that I don’t want to be paying someone a million bucks per season over 2-3 years to learn the position

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

Yeah it’s a hard one…would Keary look as good with a lesser centre outside him

I still think Latrell puts on enough quality plays on his own, not set up by Keary that make him the most effective centre in the game

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

That’s a good point

Unlike a lot of centres Latrell will win games maybe not of his own back but close enough

I guess the question becomes exactly how many games it is that he’s the difference and where those wins will get you

I’m pretty comfortable that Latrell has a greater influence on results than any other centre…by a fair way

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

That’s a big risk

I think he needs heaps more miles in his legs and I don’t know that his ball playing is up to scratch. He’s very good running at the line and getting great balls away in traffic – but that’s a different skill set.

When he played 1 in 2016(?) his running game was brilliant but he was gassed quickly and some of his ball playing and decision making was a bit hows it going

I’d be confident of him learning that but for a mill a season I don’t want a player learning a key role

If that’s what he wanted to do he might be better off taking less on a short term deal to prove he could do it

If he did he could ask his price for the rest of his career

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d

They didn’t really but because I was looking at a 30 man squad I was trying to say you could have for example three mid tier props, or you could splash out for a Haas or a Klemmer and have toilers or young players in the other positions

So it wasn’t a straight out ranking

I had the same rankings with the spine, on the understanding that you could have three big money spine players and if so it was better prioritising them in the order of 7, 9, 1 and 6 – part of the rationale being that top shelf halfbacks and hookers were far thinner on the ground

It’s also hard because using market value to attract a player to a club throws the cap out of whack quickly, so trying to use actual players to demonstrate was challenging

It got too unwieldy with too many permutations. Maybe I’ll have another go but the fun went out of it pretty quickly

Latrell doesn't warrant superstar money

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6d
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