Official Craig Fitzgibbon

puma1355 said:
Agree.

TBH our depth is pretty weak. To much money allocated to top 17. Bad accounting.
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We have a lot of 7-8/10 players without any real superstars. It's not enough to win a premiership though imo.

We had the perfect balance in 2016. Have been miles apart from a squad like that though ever since.
 
Haven't watched the pressor, someone please tell me there were some lessons

Cause if there wasn't I think I might just explode with disappointment
 
Gumby said:
We have a lot of 7-8/10 players without any real superstars. It's not enough to win a premiership though imo.

We had the perfect balance in 2016. Have been miles apart from a squad like that though ever since.
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If it were that easy all teams would do it though.

2016 was plenty of luck along with good judgement. Ennis/Barba revivals weren't picked by most teams. In fact the Dogs/Broncos actively pushed them out. Add to that Holmes and Bird coming into grade with immediate impact. We were very lucky.

I agree with your summation with the squad and have for some time, we've had too many good players but not enough great players, pushing out the balance to really compete against the best.

When Fitz signed on it was because he believed in developing the squad. And he certainly has for most players, just not as far as we'd hoped.

I'll be judging Fitz on how he deals with the squad rotation rather than how this squad was formed. So long as we get some fresh blood in I'll be happy. He talks in the media about not letting some of them go without a fight, but I truly hope that's just tall and behind the scenes we're making changes.
 
Proud Shark said:
If it were that easy all teams would do it though.

2016 was plenty of luck along with good judgement. Ennis/Barba revivals weren't picked by most teams. In fact the Dogs/Broncos actively pushed them out. Add to that Holmes and Bird coming into grade with immediate impact. We were very lucky.

I agree with your summation with the squad and have for some time, we've had too many good players but not enough great players, pushing out the balance to really compete against the best.

When Fitz signed on it was because he believed in developing the squad. And he certainly has for most players, just not as far as we'd hoped.

I'll be judging Fitz on how he deals with the squad rotation rather than how this squad was formed. So long as we get some fresh blood in I'll be happy. He talks in the media about not letting some of them go without a fight, but I truly hope that's just tall and behind the scenes we're making changes.
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This is where we struck gold.
 
Gumby said:
Still think it was a mistake extending him so early in the season. Would have waited until at least round 13 or so to see what improvements had been made since last season.
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Never understood why coaches should be extended early in the season... remember McGregor at the Dargons a few years ago?
I believe Fitz is a good fit for the club, but why the rush?
 
Gards said:
Fifita let go by Tigers
Maloney let go by Roosters
Lewis let go by Panthers

We picked up some seriously good off cuts

The Ennis & Barba signings were quite bold though
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And then he reneged on the Bulldogs deal too. Total game changer.

HaroldBishop said:
Has there been a better player swap?
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Nah. I reckon we go back-to-back with Lichaa.
 
Vichyssoise said:
And then he reneged on the Bulldogs deal too. Total game changer.
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Dis he reneg or did they pull the offer?

From memory I thought he leaked he asking price to the media or something which rubbed them the wrong way.

Either way - it was good!
 
apezza said:
Dis he reneg or did they pull the offer?

From memory I thought he leaked he asking price to the media or something which rubbed them the wrong way.

Either way - it was good!
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You could be right. Club was starting to be a basket case w/ Castle at the helm.
I remembered it as Fif having 2nd thoughts, but maybe they just told him "don't bother".
2014 was a crazy year.

Found something:

The Canterbury Bulldogs have backed out of their $3.5 million four-year deal with prop Andrew Fifita days after Fifita said he regretted signing the contract.

The Bulldogs released a statement saying he would not be playing the club in 2015 as “terms of the NRL Playing Contract could not be agreed”.
“After signing a memorandum of understanding with Andrew we’ve not been able to agree on the final terms of his NRL playing contract and have ceased negotiations with his management,” said Bulldogs chief executive Raelene Castle.

“We wish Andrew all the best for the future.”

Fifita said he would have preferred to switch to rugby union.
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apezza said:
Dis he reneg or did they pull the offer?

From memory I thought he leaked he asking price to the media or something which rubbed them the wrong way.

Either way - it was good!
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They promised him TPA's they didn't end up securing from memory

Also publicly stated he wished he signed with union to piss them off
 
Vichyssoise said:
Never understood why coaches should be extended early in the season... remember McGregor at the Dargons a few years ago?
I believe Fitz is a good fit for the club, but why the rush?
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Seibold and Payten were about to be rissoled. Flanagan not far behind and the rumours about Robinson
 
I think everyone is overreacting that roosters game. We were a few 50:50 “bounce of the ball” chances off winning that game. If we didn’t drop the half a dozen balls in the second half when we were defending, I reckon we would have won that game. We just ran out of steam, and had no go forward.

The momentum swing in the game these days is insane, hence you see a team like the panthers lose a game to the bulldogs.

We have seen the talents and ability within this team and they are building for the season.

I have no doubt that we will go deep into the finals if we can stay injury free and get a few more of those lucky bounces of the ball.
 
may said:
I think everyone is overreacting that roosters game. We were a few 50:50 “bounce of the ball” chances off winning that game. If we didn’t drop the half a dozen balls in the second half when we were defending, I reckon we would have won that game. We just ran out of steam, and had no go forward.

The momentum swing in the game these days is insane, hence you see a team like the panthers lose a game to the bulldogs.

We have seen the talents and ability within this team and they are building for the season.

I have no doubt that we will go deep into the finals if we can stay injury free and get a few more of those lucky bounces of the ball.
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We played in the 2nd half exactly like the Roosters did in the first. We had opportunities to put the game to bed.
Instead we invited them back in the game either side of half-time.
Sure, we ran out of steam, but our mistakes (same we always do) allowed them back in the contest.
Not a disaster for sure but the kind of loss that happens way too often.
 
AdShark said:
Seibold and Payten were about to be rissoled. Flanagan not far behind and the rumours about Robinson
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Contract was meant to end in 2027 if I'm not mistaken.
I don't see why the club and coach couldn't agree to discuss a new contract/extension later during the season.
But that's just me probably.
 
Having the coach signed up shows stability and certainty in a particular direction. No doubt this helps in recruitment and retention which we will be doing a fair bit of before next season.

Extending him now or in round 13 – there is no difference. Not like a better option is going to be available or that 13 rounds is going to show us something we don’t already know.
 
Capital_Shark said:
Having the coach signed up shows stability and certainty in a particular direction. No doubt this helps in recruitment and retention which we will be doing a fair bit of before next season.

Extending him now or in round 13 – there is no difference. Not like a better option is going to be available or that 13 rounds is going to show us something we don’t already know.
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There's a lotta logic being spoken around these parts despite a poor loss into the bye.

Don't get me wrong, there's the usual meltdowns too, just more logic than normal.
 
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