Martin Thomas

Injury prone, but sublime player at his best. Not offered a contract extension by the Dragons. Any takers?

Link here.

gutted....cnt see why weve let him go either!

http://www.newportgwentdragons.com/NewsArticle.aspx?n=20656&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Surprised he wasn't offered a contract, wonder what's darren edwards thinking behind that? i'd take him back at the scarlets, we could do with another fullback. although we have liam williams and dan newton, think martyn would offer us something different. we also have stoddard but see his future on the wing these days. did hear Leicester Tigers are after him though.

its concering especially when its rumoured we signed dan evans...if thomas goes west it will be yet another blunder from dragons board...if he goes to leicester it would make sense as he prob get more money there..

out of the list i thought rhys buckley was doing well also

Because he's off is the only reason I can see. Real shame.

I probably would have retained Cadman and Buckley too, seeing as we are pretty light on second rows and hookers. Though they're not exactly established players.

Not a massive Tom Riley fan, but then he did have a knack of scoring for us.

it was tough on riley, has been a good servant but wth tuilagi smith hughes dixon on the books he wouldnt have played much, if he cant get another pro contract i expect he will go back to pontypridd

The report said we have signed Dan Evans and are close to signing another specialist full back gutted to see him go but lets wait and see who the new guy is. As for Rhys I think Gustafson is going to feature at hooker next year along with Burns and Jones.
It also said we will have a 38 man squad any short falls will I assume be filled from the accademy

pioden gorllewin wrote:Surprised he wasn't offered a contract... did hear Leicester Tigers are after him though.

I think you've answered your own question there, Pioden. If his contract's up and we wouldn't be able to compete financially with the Tigers - and if he wants away anyway - then it makes sense not to bother. He's been a great player for us, though.

Dan Evans? Really? The Scarlets one? He's so hit and miss it's untrue.

I have to laugh at how we say 7 players have been chopped when there's 8. Tidy maths that.

Rhys Buckley is a bit strange as he was starting a bit at the start of the season. Jabba isn't getting any younger, Gus is untried, Burner might not come back the same player.

luckless you're probably right there, can't see any other reason why he wasn't offered a contract.

be interesting what backline the dragons can assemble next season without their 3 most attacking players of brew,tovey and thomas.

is dan evans a done deal?

Ah I forgot Sam Parry at hooker too. Wonder who the other fullback is?

if he goes to leicester it would make sense as he prob get more money there

I wouldn't bet on the wages being that different. I doubt he'd get more than £90k (Twelvetrees was only offered just over £100k). A back up full back won't be demanding a great deal of salary. The opportunity is certainly there for him though, Tigers have a top notch training and medical facility and need a full back long term to take over from Murphy. If he proves up to the job then he'll be playing on the biggest stages and future contracts will be more lucrative.

Other full backs have failed though; Johne Murphy, Scotty Hamilton and Niall Morris the latest 3 unable to budge Geordie. I did see the try he created for the Dragons from full back (I think it was this weekend), that looked very Murphy esque though so maybe he'll do it.

I dont understand some of these releases at all.

Buckley has been solid. Much better prospect than the ageing Steve Jones for example.

Martyn Thomas is promising too. Would have kept him to push Daniel Evans for consistency. Worst case scenario one of them could have played on the wing occasionally.

Cadman is the only lock under 32 at the club. Again probably would have been wiser to start thinking about replacing Sidoli, A. Jones or Scott Morgan.
We are so short in this department its not even funny at this point, especially that its being rumoured we are being linked with D. Jones for the Blues (34). Edwards should be looking at younger options to grow into the role. D. Jones would be an awful signing.

The worry for me is that with the news the Dragons are releasing these only the following are left out of contract by my count:-

Gustafson
Coundley
S. Jones
S. Morgan
A. Coombs
G. Thomas
W. Evans
P. Leach
W. Harries
T. Chavhanga

So that leads me to believe that these are either being signed direct by other clubs or are renewing contracts.

Chav, Harries, Evans, Coombs & Gustafson would be ok to resign. But Gav for example needs replacing. Hes been great for us but we really need to start developing youngsters more.

I'm really concerned at the players we are being linked with (D. Jones,D. Evans & D. Manu). I think D. Evans might be ok and he at least is still young. The other 2 have seen their best days come and go.
We are not competiting for silver ware so I really dont see the point in signing over the hill Blues, Scarlets & Ospreys players. I appreciate we need a little experience to guide youngster through but players have seasoned experience after 4-5 seasons of pro rugby.

Dan Evans is a damn good player, when given more than a game here and there. He has looked hit and miss recently as he only really gets game time when we have a dire side out and he is trying to do everything himself as the others are not up to much. If the Dragons do get him they will not be disappointed. Also he is very good as bench cover flyhalf/wing/fullback cover.

I would be gutted to see Martyn Thomas leave the Rabo, but I guess if Leicester are after him it would make sence very much another Geordan Murphy

Ospreys could use a decent fullback!

They would only wreck him. Not a happy camp there since




The Tai Bach Incident

gowales:

martyn comes is best buddies with joe bearman, so maybe ospreys could be a possibility - but i doubt it.

glas:

is the tai bach thing still rumbling on?

Martyn is a useful player I guess, shame for the Dragons, but you'd be getting a better replacement in Dan Evans, who when on form can be absolutely sublime. He can get a bit of an attitude problem sometimes, and when his confidence goes his form can plummit, but if you stick with him, he can play some blinders for you.

Truth be told even as an Ospreys supporter i would rather him go to the Tigers. I don't really have to say how badly the Ospreys have managed players in the past.

As others have said the Tigers are a very professionally run side with great facilities and coaching staff. He would do well there i think

[quote="formerly known as Sam I did see the try he created for the Dragons from full back (I think it was this weekend), that looked very Murphy esque though so maybe he'll do it.[/quote]

He's a good player is Martyn, but that try was created by Will Harries.

Ah, wrong full back? Damn, that was a good run from his own half.

Yeah it was Will at 15, obviously as a sign of things to come. I am a fan of Martyn. but if we keep Will fit then we have a handy enough player for fullback still.

My main worry about this is not the quality we're losing because apart from Martyn Thomas the rest aren't that good. My worry is the numbers! While Riley isn't great, who else is knocking on the door as backup centre? Pat Leach? Robling? Although I think they see him more as a 10. I know it's no good having a lack of depth in the squad, but even worse than that is having no back up players at all! I think we'll just about manage to scrape together a match day 22 at this rate!

Griff - I guess the other way you could look at it is this. The Dragons are letting go of some deadwood. They then have spare cash lying around to either increase the wages of other players in order to keep hold of them, or to bring in some better players. And even though their squad size is reduced there is still nothing to stop them from plucking players out of their feeder clubs if they are short on numbers. And most of the players who have been released are more or less prem level, so there is no real loss (bar Thomas and the boys off for the money).

I would have rather we kept Martyn Thomas and got rid of Jamie Smith. He's taking a NWQ squad space and haven't been impressed with him from what I have seen. Shame he's leaving but i'm sure he will be an asset to whatever team he joins, his pace is electric even after a double leg break.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Dan Evans is a damn good player, when given more than a game here and there. He has looked hit and miss recently as he only really gets game time when we have a dire side out and he is trying to do everything himself as the others are not up to much. If the Dragons do get him they will not be disappointed. Also he is very good as bench cover flyhalf/wing/fullback cover.

Spiderman, I'm sure you've seen much more of him than I have, but the times I've seen him play the last season or so, he hasn't looked like a fullback who instils confidence (quite possibly for the reasons you suggest). He looked a quality player when he first appeared, though, so if we get him back in that kind of form, I wouldn't complain!