The Manly hooker rumour is probably BS, but it is the only position we would try to strengthen before June 30th.

Parra will copy theTigers game plan, try to slow our play the balls, get up fast on Burton in numbers.

We have the edge in size in the forwards, their halves are weak defenders. Run our backrowers at their halves seems like a good plsn.

Their halves have footwork that can worry backrowers, I'm only worried about Toups, Curran, Salmon and Spinks are mobile.

Critter may drop out with Tracey playing fullback interchanging with Kiraz who would play a mix of wing and fullback.

Critter might be on the bench becuase he may need to get on the field to be elegible for SOO selection, that might cost Spinks a debut. Critter deciding to give up on SOO, and put the club first wouldn't surprise me.

Critter will know that for SOO and club he needs to be fully fit, he can target SOO3, especially if it is a decider.

Recruitment and retention is mainly focused around 20-30 young players we are developing.

So far we have seen AJ, Underhill, Sua and Readon.

Sua may be signing with Perth, but so far that isn't official.

Todd, Hayward and Rinakama in the last few years. Also Hopoi.

We recruited Galvin and Dykes who i think we will extend.

Woods, Spinks, Alatani not far away from NRL. (If fit)

Young, Conti, Teapua, Cocherane perhaps NRL next season.

Young guys will initially provide the depth, eventually they will provide the class.

That is how the Dogs used to operate, how Gus operates and how i like the club to be run.

Young guys at fullback, hooker and in the halves are not yet ready, some of our good young outside backs left. Injuries in positions where we lacked depth cost us.

I am not expecting a lot of change we have a 29 man squad listed on the NRL website. I am expecting Curran, Turpin, O'Sullivian and possibly Mann to leave.

Underhill, AJ and Readon and possihly Spinks to be promoted to top 30.

Gordon CKT may be promoted to top 30, we may sign another hooker who will be top 30 or development squad.

Zyron, Sua,Hopoi and Todd are the guys least likely to be extend. I hope that we keep Todd and I like Hopoi. Sua and Zyron are going ok.

Since we lack depth in the outside backs Sua would be very handy.

We are not going to see major changes, each season a handful of locally developed players will transition to top 30,

Players off contract in 2027 are Salmon, King, Xerri, Burton and Preston. I can see 1-2 of them leaving. I hope that we keep Preston and Burton. Salmon probably isn't on big money. King will want to stay and we will want to keep him.

My point is, I'll be surprised if we have a massive cleanout of players or sign a high profile star player in any position in the next 2-3:years.

Critter 2031, Kiks 2028, Thompson 2029, Hayes 2029, Latu 2028, Hayward 2028, Galvin 2028, Kiraz 2028, Tracey 2028, Toups 2028

These guys are the core of the squad, and we probably want to extend another 8 players.

Gus isn't going to change his formula.

Do the Panthers turn over half of their squad or sack the coach every second season? A lot of their players were locally developed, and often played their best footy at the Panthers before signing for big money elsewhere.

I'm glad our fans are not in control of the club, we would be a basket case.

Poor Critter Dogs might become a rep Career killer for him , he tries so hard I think too much to get the team going . More prone to injury . Hoping Burto has a big game on Monday . He may do so knowing SOO position in the line .

Too many of our players play injured far too often,

This poor season may have a sliver lining, becuase we may be able to extend many of our players on reasonable deals.

Guys I defenately want to extend who are far better than fans think include Tuala, Dykes and Hughes.

Woods is known to be good, but we should be able to extend him.

Not many people outside of the club know who our other good young players are, other clubs know, but there is talent at all clubs.

Teams like Perth are looking for established talent and names people will recognise. Burton, Xerri and Preston are the guys who clubs like Perth will want to sign.

We didn't deliberstely have a bad season, but it slightly incresses the chances of keeping some players. Critter missing SOO2 will not end his rep career.

I'm sure Gus is working on sxrending our players and mainly on extending our players. Most players will want to stay, but money talks.

Established talent big $$$$, home grown talent little $$$$.

Most ot our guys will stay for a bit less, guys sith young kids might not want to move to Perth or PNG.

Readon and Alatani being backrowers who can play centre is a big plus. Capewell is a well known slightly bigger and probably slightly better player.

This can help with depth. Guys like Dykes,Tracey, Kiraz, Tuala, Critter and Burton who can play multiple positions help with depth.

Hayward is a very versitile player, he is off contact in 2028, but we might extend early. Negative fans are completely wrong about Hayward. They should try playing 80 mins at hooker in the NRL. At our prime, most of us would be lucky to last 1 minute.

Ennis has the memory of a goldfidh, his career started out coming off the bench playing in the halves and hooker. It was a long time before Ennis played 80 minutes at hooker and the game was slow in that era with lots of wrestle, it is much faster now.

The main thing wrong with our club is, fans are too willing to believe media critics intent on creating drama who often have a agenda against the club or Gus.

Hopefully a better end to the season starts on Monday.

Hayward and Galvin will be a lot better players in a few years time, they will peak around 2030.

We haven 't had much luck this season, but at least our 2 byes come at a good time.

It will count for nothing if we don'f beat Parra.

After the bye we play Manly at home and 2 of their better players should be backing up from SOO or rested.

Then Titans away on a short turnaround with travel.

3 wins and 2 byes would have us back in the hunt.

Soon after the second bye we should get Kicks and Presto back.

Then it is on to part 3 of the season.

I think our best chance of beating Parra is.

1. Start well..
2. Dominate
3. Execute
4. Score points
5. Keep the intensity up.

If we get on top, their season is effectively over.

We are at home and we should have good crowd support, now or never.

Manly pretty impressive, Turbo back for us.

Manly really playing for Foz . Definitely a Manly guy through and through. He actually wanted to stay with us play on but the club had no alternative but to move him on his injuries were a massive liability.
Parra game must win at all costs . Playing Manly has always been an even call both teams never really had the edge over the other in recent years . During the Barrett years they flogged us in a few games .
Roosters looked good esp their centre Hugo and winger Smith . They have that great physical tall body which is suited in today's game . We need some more players like that .

Flegg beat Eels 40-16, 2 tries ti Fing at FB who must be good if he has pushed Puru to wing.

Roosters very impressive against Canberra.

I am glad that we don't play the Roosters until round 23.

Beating the Eels is enough of a challenge.

From memory the Raiders, Storm, Dogs and Broncos were the top 4 last year. The other 3 sides are not going much better than us.

The media are starting to focus more on the Broncos and Raiders, which is a least taking some heat off us.

I am not sure how we are going to beat Manly.

I've changed my mind slightly on our best poosible team this year.

1. Dykes.
2. Tuala
3. Xerri
4. Critter
5. Kiraz
6. Burton
7. Galvin
8. Hughes
9. Turpin
10. Thompson
11. Kiks
12. Presto
13. King
14. Hayward
15. Toups
16. Underhill
17. Todd/AJ
18. Rinakama
19. Salmon

I've gone for a big pack of forwards and impact in the forwards off the bench.

We need Burton to do more of the long kicking, Galvin is ok for short kicks.

Woods is a better attacking kicker of the ball.

If I had to add Woods to the 19 above, play him at 14 and start Hayward. Galvin can fill in at hooker / lock when Woods comes on.

We have a big mountain to climb to match what the Chooks did.

I don't buy the narrative that we are worse than last season, but we had a lot of problems adjusting to the new rules.

The comp is still pretty open, lots of teams could win it, we need to fight our way onto that list, we are off it at present.

Seems is Madge losing the dressing room up at Brisbane. The Sydney media may not on to them as much as the Brisbane media . Can we get Madge at the Dogs , I would welcome him with open arms . He would in no time win us a premiership with the current team . He is more likely to kick ass for laziness.
Canberra somehow gets away from bad press as they seem to be everyone's second team .
As I mentioned before we are club that any news will make good news for the media . Club sometimes has brought it on themselves.

I am happy with the current cosch.

Look at the successful clubs, Penrith, Storm, Roosters they have had the same coach many seasons.

Changing the coach every few season is a receipe for staying at the bottom of the table.

Broncos have a lot more talent than we do and thst runs very deep.

Adapting to the new rules and injuries seem to be our biggest probllems this season.

If we can make the semis, play Dykes at FB and Woods at 14 fans might be very surpised. We can still finish snywhere between 1 and 17.

Hope to see Woods soon in the top grade or he may become the best halfback we had never to play first grace since Seazer..
I remember the hype around Mbye next Thurston and I am sure there was another lower grade player many years the next SBW .
Many of the older generation supporters I supposed have that hanging over their heads letting go of Thurston. It will never go away. I think the younger crowd that are coming through now may actually get over it as they never seen him play or heard of him before.

The NRL is vey close this season, any team can beat any other team.

A bit of luck and a few refs calls can mske the difference. Sometimes a single wrong refs call can change the momentum and the result of a game.

There are no dud teams and very few did players. All teams are well coach with the possible exception of the Dragons.

All clubs have pretty good depth going at least as far as reserve grade. The Roosters have a lot of elite talent, and the Broncos are the next most talented club. At full strength, the Panthers and Storm have a great spine.

Aside from that, all clubs are fairly even and a few injuries can make a difference.

We have more talent and a deeper squad in the forwards thsn last year but we are short at hooker and in the outside backs.

IMO the only mistake the club made was signing O'Sullivian, we should have signed another specalist hooker, but we expected more from Turpin and Gordon CKT.

When a NRL team is lazy or has a bad attitude, their coach normally calls it out in the presser.

Zoz2025 said:

Hope to see Woods soon in the top grade or he may become the best halfback we had never to play first grace since Seazer..
I remember the hype around Mbye next Thurston and I am sure there was another lower grade player many years the next SBW .
Many of the older generation supporters I supposed have that hanging over their heads letting go of Thurston. It will never go away. I think the younger crowd that are coming through now may actually get over it as they never seen him play or heard of him before.

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Woods has a great kicking and running game Galvin is a better passer.

This season if we can get Woods on the paddock late, i think 14 suits him, similar to Hayward at lock last season, but with a more dynamic running game.

The one edge we have this year is the forwards, I think we can pick a pack that will finish on top of all other packs.

The half I really rate is Teaupa, if we lose him thst will be give me vibes similar to Thurston.

At fullback, I really like Dkyes, he is everything that we are missing.