Serves Des right

[Terry Zarsoff]

In many ways Des just has to cope for now with recruiting/retention decisions made by Fulton and Barrett, with some meddling from the back office c. 2014/15 thrown in, like:

Paying overs for DCE who would have stayed for much less if the ownership group had been awake to the notion that Foran wanted to go, DCE wanted to stay; and

Letting go of Gutherson (on about $150k at the time). That has worked out really well....not. Who would you rather have in your squad, local junior Clint, or on and off-field hand grenade Dylan, ready to self-detonate (injury wise, brain explosion wise) at any tick of the clock?

Then after Fulton left, Barrett tries to foster Croker’s career at the expense of Hastings, ‘managing’ that sorry affair abysmally. Meanwhile the league world could see that one or two players ‘held the cards’ on the club’s immediate future at the time, not the coach. Yes DCE, you.

Who would not like having Hastings back in the mix? He would certainly come in handy off the bench.

Barrett made some comments recently about how he might have done things differently at Manly. The Hastings imbroglio should figure prominently in his musings.

Meanwhile Des is stuck with some of those legacy issues, whilst trying to wade his way through the Brave New World of rugba league, COVID style. He will get there.

 

[BOZO]

In many ways Des just has to cope for now with recruiting/retention decisions made by Fulton and Barrett, with some meddling from the back office c. 2014/15 thrown in, like:

Paying overs for DCE who would have stayed for much less if the ownership group had been awake to the notion that Foran wanted to go, DCE wanted to stay; and

Letting go of Gutherson (on about $150k at the time). That has worked out really well....not. Who would you rather have in your squad, local junior Clint, or on and off-field hand grenade Dylan, ready to self-detonate (injury wise, brain explosion wise) at any tick of the clock?

Then after Fulton left, Barrett tries to foster Croker’s career at the expense of Hastings, ‘managing’ that sorry affair abysmally. Meanwhile the league world could see that one or two players ‘held the cards’ on the club’s immediate future at the time, not the coach. Yes DCE, you.

Who would not like having Hastings back in the mix? He would certainly come in handy off the bench.

Barrett made some comments recently about how he might have done things differently at Manly. The Hastings imbroglio should figure prominently in his musings.

Meanwhile Des is stuck with some of those legacy issues, whilst trying to wade his way through the Brave New World of rugba league, COVID style. He will get there.

Fulton signed Walker and kappow and retained the Turbos and those players are the foundation to build any great team . The Incomparable Immortal has always been a winner and has never failed . Others have failed him .

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Yes yes whatever.

The point is would you prefer to have Walker over Gutherson, noting that Fulton played a key role in both decisions.

 

[winnyason]

In many ways Des just has to cope for now with recruiting/retention decisions made by Fulton and Barrett, with some meddling from the back office c. 2014/15 thrown in, like:

Paying overs for DCE who would have stayed for much less if the ownership group had been awake to the notion that Foran wanted to go, DCE wanted to stay; and

Letting go of Gutherson (on about $150k at the time). That has worked out really well....not. Who would you rather have in your squad, local junior Clint, or on and off-field hand grenade Dylan, ready to self-detonate (injury wise, brain explosion wise) at any tick of the clock?

Then after Fulton left, Barrett tries to foster Croker’s career at the expense of Hastings, ‘managing’ that sorry affair abysmally. Meanwhile the league world could see that one or two players ‘held the cards’ on the club’s immediate future at the time, not the coach. Yes DCE, you.

Who would not like having Hastings back in the mix? He would certainly come in handy off the bench.

Barrett made some comments recently about how he might have done things differently at Manly. The Hastings imbroglio should figure prominently in his musings.

Meanwhile Des is stuck with some of those legacy issues, whilst trying to wade his way through the Brave New World of rugba league, COVID style. He will get there.

In hindsight agree here Des has been here season and half now and I doubt he taken walker over Gutho and Hiku. To me things have not changed with ability if this squad it’s borderline top 8 or outside. When we feel like it we can compete with best but other times we can’t be bothered. The blowouts like sharks, dragons and panthers feel a lot like what we seen a lot under Barrett watch, makes me question Des has overachieved with this group last year.

 

[frank stokes]

In many ways Des just has to cope for now with recruiting/retention decisions made by Fulton and Barrett, with some meddling from the back office c. 2014/15 thrown in, like:

Paying overs for DCE who would have stayed for much less if the ownership group had been awake to the notion that Foran wanted to go, DCE wanted to stay; and

Letting go of Gutherson (on about $150k at the time). That has worked out really well....not. Who would you rather have in your squad, local junior Clint, or on and off-field hand grenade Dylan, ready to self-detonate (injury wise, brain explosion wise) at any tick of the clock?

Then after Fulton left, Barrett tries to foster Croker’s career at the expense of Hastings, ‘managing’ that sorry affair abysmally. Meanwhile the league world could see that one or two players ‘held the cards’ on the club’s immediate future at the time, not the coach. Yes DCE, you.

Who would not like having Hastings back in the mix? He would certainly come in handy off the bench.

Barrett made some comments recently about how he might have done things differently at Manly. The Hastings imbroglio should figure prominently in his musings.

Meanwhile Des is stuck with some of those legacy issues, whilst trying to wade his way through the Brave New World of rugba league, COVID style. He will get there.

Mostly agree but not on Hastings... the guy was sh*t in the couple of opportunities he had here and just because he has succeeded in ESL means nothing... Rangi Chase and Pat Richard's were both Man Of Steel too - means nothing in relation to NRL and the guy is a d*ck so I dont see him as "the one that got away"... Gutho yes but he had leg issues and Lyon/Matai in front of him when he left so I see why that happened...

 

[susan]

No cust and then croker on the team. Fmd what a colossal fuk up! Brought on afB too late also. Parker needs to go hes just weak and slow but now walker is injured after 1 minute and gone for 6 weeks he will be there for the rest of the year. If siro is injured then we will see one youngster come into the squad. Unless jetski comes back.. well warriors next week we can cream them and get some mojo back. Expect the same team bar cust and siro with waddell to start. 🙁

Cream the Warriors ? They are playing with plenty of guts. Turn up off our game a bit and they’ll beat us.

 

[susan]

Just ask Brisbane.

Yes but what’s the difference between blooding players and missing the eight and not blooding players and keeping the current team that will miss the eight. Anyone who thinks we are going to trouble anyone at the back end of year is smoking some good ****.

The big difference is the kids get experience and are ready earlier. ZERO to lose.

Also Brisbane is inexperienced across the park. We have DCE Marty Turbot brothers AFB Sirro Thommo Levi Nothing like Brisbane who also have no halves while we have Australian halfback.

 

[bSw]

In hindsight agree here Des has been here season and half now and I doubt he taken walker over Gutho and Hiku. To me things have not changed with ability if this squad it’s borderline top 8 or outside. When we feel like it we can compete with best but other times we can’t be bothered. The blowouts like sharks, dragons and panthers feel a lot like what we seen a lot under Barrett watch, makes me question Des has overachieved with this group last year.

Definitely overachieved with this group last year

1. Should have re-signed Api!

2. Jorge has been a disaster for years! - definitely the worst winger in the comp,
with Parker and Elliott make for the worst 3 in their position

3. Cust should have never been dropped!


When Des returned last year we started defending well. I hope he hasn't lost his mojo. It's been a shocking season (even our wins have been crappy performances-barring raiders game). We can't blame injuries cause almost every other team have a worse injury list

 

[Woodsie]

Everything will be just Dandy .... I was convinced by the 100's of posts last year that started with ... "now that we have a good coach" ....

 

[bSw]

Everything will be just Dandy .... I was convinced by the 100's of posts last year that started with ... "now that we have a good coach" ....

Des has a great record, but ...
2016 scraped into 8 with a monster pack and outside backs like morris twins, sam perrett, and curtis rona
2017 didn't make the 8
2018 didn't coach
2019 made 6th with an average squad - definitely a good outcome
2020 ...

Not a real good 5 years

 

[winnyason]

Definitely overachieved with this group last year

1. Should have re-signed Api!

2. Jorge has been a disaster for years! - definitely the worst winger in the comp,
with Parker and Elliott make for the worst 3 in their position

3. Cust should have never been dropped!


When Des returned last year we started defending well. I hope he hasn't lost his mojo. It's been a shocking season (even our wins have been crappy performances-barring raiders game). We can't blame injuries cause almost every other team have a worse injury list

We look out of ideas, API was let go to upgrade Tom deal maybe should have not retained walker

 

[nightster]

You can't just bring in alot of young players at the same time. We need to bring them in slowly but I do agree we can experiment with Hoppa or Schuster from our reserves in the coming rounds

Hi Mrs Hassler

 

[winnyason]

Everything will be just Dandy .... I was convinced by the 100's of posts last year that started with ... "now that we have a good coach" ....

I mean he has to play twenty prized recruit Lachlan croker

 

[MissKate]

You can't just bring in alot of young players at the same time. We need to bring them in slowly but I do agree we can experiment with Hoppa or Schuster from our reserves in the coming rounds

Agree we can’t bring in a whole bunch of younger players all at once, but that could also have been prevented this season. When Funa and Cust were brought in to the team they should have retained their spots, they would now have a few games to have settled into their spots. That would then open the opportunity to bring in another of the youngsters in next week or in the coming weeks. A gradual process which Des stuffed up in order to bring older players back into the team when realistically those older players should be being used as the back up players

 

[Woodsie]

Des has a great record, but ...
2016 scraped into 8 with a monster pack and outside backs like morris twins, sam perrett, and curtis rona
2017 didn't make the 8
2018 didn't coach
2019 made 6th with an average squad - definitely a good outcome
2020 ...

Not a real good 5 years

You must not have read the 39,729 posts last year that said now that we have a good coach everything including the weather would be better .... convinced me anyway ...

 

[Highflier]

Yes but what’s the difference between blooding players and missing the eight and not blooding players and keeping the current team that will miss the eight. Anyone who thinks we are going to trouble anyone at the back end of year is smoking some good ****.

The big difference is the kids get experience and are ready earlier. ZERO to lose.

Also Brisbane is inexperienced across the park. We have DCE Marty Turbot brothers AFB Sirro Thommo Levi Nothing like Brisbane who also have no halves while we have Australian halfback.

Not only do they get experience but its not like we are putting 17 17 year olds on .We have a mix of older experienced players Marty DCE Thommo AFB Jake also both Cust (should never have been dropped) and Gauca(1 or 2 games and he performed pretty well) have played 1st grade before ,poor old Parker is a danger to himself ,so Schuster for him ,Hoppa for Elliot (although he did his absolute best and was pretty fearless under the high ball that he was mercilessly peppered with) and Funa to the wing for George (i'm sorry to say that but its time)
Croker goes well as a relief for Levi in the 14 but thats it ,unfortuntly everytime we got some momentum up last night poor old Croker was quick to snuff it out
Lets hope we see some young blood and enthusiasm next week

 

[susan]

Hoppa not available. Recent injury . Not major but doubt he’s in mix.

 

[Highflier]

Hoppa not available. Recent injury . Not major but doubt he’s in mix.

bummer ,what about Metcalf ? we need a bit of speed

 

[dowdz]

So, has the game gone past Des? Have the club extended his contract too early? Alot of us on here know we lose a fair bit of our talent as they struggle to get a crack in the top team. I can understand in Des's previous reign as we had one hell of a team but it's a different game and time now.

 

[Damien2812]

Just ask Brisbane.

Thats why Brisbane have lost game after game. Bringing in alot of younger blokes isn't the way to go. You need a good balance of experience and youth and to make matters worse no NSW cup being played really makes bringing younger blokes in hard with no form to go by..