Dragons Season Thread - 2018/19 - aka Year 2 of the 3 Year Plan

[Guest]

First topic message reminder :

So we made it to the end of the 2017/18 season.  We've seen/endured the first year of Bernard Jackman's plan.  I think most of us have been through a rollercoaster of emotions, similar to previous seasons but perhaps even more so this season given the new injection of life and investment into the Dragons.  First there was the hope - the new coaches, some new players, the new pitch, new chairman, new cash injection.  Then we started to stumble - it's all down to the new coach and getting used to the new systems, we said.  Then came the face plant and the realisation that this trend was going to carry on for the whole season - a couple of wins in the league, a few in Europe, a lot of spankings, not many losing bonus points.  Very poor return.  The hope turned to despair and BJ's methods were being questioned.  Then the hope comes again with the announcement of new signings ('stellar' signings, compared to previous years!) and the assurance that the 1st year of the plan was always going to be difficult and that year 2 would be the one to judge BJ on.....  

So.......on to year 2 (2018/19).  Where are we?  What are our expectations (realistically)?  What's the best team we can put out on paper and how competitive will it be?  For a number of years we've been stuffed in the league so seem to try to get some solace from a decent showing in the Euro 2nd tier comp.  However, should we forget about Europe and try to put all of our focus on the league?  I think so.

Transfers - we've lost more than we've gained, although the quality of the transfers in could/should be better than those leaving.  But I'm worried we'll be thin on the ground when the inevitable injuries hit.

Players In: = 14
Jordan Williams from England Bristol Bears
Rhodri Williams from England Bristol Bears
Ross Moriarty from England Gloucester
Rhodri Davies from England Rotherham Titans
Richard Hibbard from England Gloucester
Huw Taylor from England Worcester Warriors
Josh Lewis from England Bath
Ryan Bevington from England Bristol Bears
Aaron Jarvis from France Clermont
Dafydd Howells from Wales Ospreys
Tiaan Loots from Wales RGC 1404
Jacob Botica from Wales RGC 1404
Rhys Lawrence from England Ealing Trailfinders
Brandon Nansen from France

Players Out: - =21
Sarel Pretorius to South Africa Southern Kings
Phil Price to Wales Scarlets
Scott Andrews to Wales Neath
Luke Garrett to Wales Neath
Adam Hughes retired
Pat Howard to England Ealing Trailfinders
Rhys Buckley to Wales Bargoed
Barney Nightingale to Wales Bargoed
Keagan Bale to Wales Bargoed
Angus O'Brien to Wales Scarlets
Nicky Thomas to Wales Scarlets (return from short-term loan)
Dorian Jones to France Angoulême
Charlie Davies to England Northampton Saints
Lloyd Lewis to Wales Pontypool
Sam Beard to New Zealand Canterbury
Sam Hobbs released
Thomas Davies released
Liam Belcher released
Ashley Sweet released
Robson Blake released
Carl Meyer released

I'll try to update the Ins and Outs as we go.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

I thought Talbot-Davies looked quite sharp against Ulster, on the rare occasions they gave him any space to work in. But it's a good job Warren is a team / squad player, because he always seems to be the man who makes way for others. He's never dropped because of a bad performance, as far as I can tell.

[munkian]

Dragons: J Williams, D Howells, H Amos, J Sage, W Talbot-Davies, J Tovey, R Williams, B Harris, R Hibbard (captain), L Fairbrother, J Davies, L Evans, H Keddie, N Cudd, T Basham. Replacements: R Lawrence, A Jarvis, D Suter, J Thomas, H Taylor, T Knoyle, J Dixon, A Warren.

I don’t mind JT as a player, so Landman not making the squad isn’t as bad this week. I will still take some convincing of Evans as a lock, but there we go.

I am unsure how Amos will go at 13 and I don’t like Dan Suter being our tight head cover.

Its a tidy backrow and back line. No Landman is Frak daft though.

[RiscaGame]

Thought Talbot Davies was being forced into touch rather easily, which Hallam probably wouldn’t be (with his size).

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Ceri Jones was saying he needs to come infield more. I suppose he's still learning. He made one nice half break in the second half, I remember.

[Stone Motif]

We are going to receive anal.

[Stone Motif]

Joe Davies = passenger

[Guest]

We are going to receive anal.

[Stone Motif]

Buttress...if you aren't a complete imbecile you'll feck O'Bernard off in a Galway car park post haste

[Guest]

26-0 at halftime is so poor. Another 5 try defeat.

[Stone Motif]

26-0 at halftime is so poor. Another 5 try defeat.

Please let the absence of the usual post match dogsh7t from Jackman mean a potato famine is about to descend on Dave

[mikey_dragon]

It's getting beyond a joke now. BJ was given time, he was given an injection of cash, he was given the authority to make the signings he wanted too - yet a bonus point is still a given against us. He has to go, if not now then before his contract is up at least.

[RiscaGame]

His Argus interview was a bit much, saying he can see improvement. I can’t believe we went from should’ve been at least a try up, to four down. Madness.

Thankfully Chris Kirwan has started criticising the decisions not to play Amos 15 and the freezing out of Landman.

[Stone Motif]

His Argus interview was a bit much, saying he can see improvement. I can’t believe we went from should’ve been at least a try up, to four down. Madness.

Thankfully Chris Kirwan has started criticising the decisions not to play Amos 15 and the freezing out of Landman.

Take your snake oil and feck off Bernard

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Four tries in 15 minutes is indefensible. Pun sort of intended.

[Brendan]

Can't see where the next win will be. Kings away seems to be high scoring for every team so would have to feel with the TBPs they a picking up will finish ahead of Dragons. Not good

Who would be a realistic replacement for Jackman.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

His Argus interview was a bit much, saying he can see improvement. I can’t believe we went from should’ve been at least a try up, to four down. Madness.

Thankfully Chris Kirwan has started criticising the decisions not to play Amos 15 and the freezing out of Landman.

He also rightly pointed out that Amos's contract is up at the end of next season, and that there can't possibly be much incentive for him to stay.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Can't see where the next win will be.  Kings away seems to be high scoring for every team so would have to feel with the TBPs they a picking up will finish ahead of Dragons. Not good

Who would be a realistic replacement for Jackman.

It depends how much he's on. I have no idea. Plus he'd need to be paid off.

In his defence (no pun intended), if he had a defence coach who was anywhere near competent, the picture would be quite different. The ease with which sides make linebreaks against us  is scandalous.

[munkian]

I saw the two fantastic breaks followed by botched tries and then turned it off after they scored 3 in response.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Hallam Amos:

"I want to see progress, I have been here eight years with the senior squad and was with the academy. It's about time that we started seeing some progress.

"It has been frustrating and we can't use the excuses that we are young or that we haven't got the players anymore.

"We showed character in the second half but that is not enough at this level. It could have been a whole lot worse, so to come in having scored a couple of tries and having fronted up was good, but it was the same old story of opposition teams scoring points far more easily than us.

"We have to work so hard for our tries and points and gift them to our opponents."

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/17201721.hallam-amos-wants-to-see-dragons-progress-as-contract-expiry-looms/

[Stone Motif]

Can't see where the next win will be.  Kings away seems to be high scoring for every team so would have to feel with the TBPs they a picking up will finish ahead of Dragons. Not good

Who would be a realistic replacement for Jackman.

It depends how much he's on. I have no idea. Plus he'd need to be paid off.

In his defence (no pun intended), if he had a defence coach who was anywhere near competent, the picture would be quite different. The ease with which sides make linebreaks against us  is scandalous.

He appointed said 'defence coach'

[Stone Motif]

Hallam Amos:

"I want to see progress, I have been here eight years with the senior squad and was with the academy. It's about time that we started seeing some progress.

"It has been frustrating and we can't use the excuses that we are young or that we haven't got the players anymore.

"We showed character in the second half but that is not enough at this level. It could have been a whole lot worse, so to come in having scored a couple of tries and having fronted up was good, but it was the same old story of opposition teams scoring points far more easily than us.

"We have to work so hard for our tries and points and gift them to our opponents."

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/17201721.hallam-amos-wants-to-see-dragons-progress-as-contract-expiry-looms/

Looking forward to seeing him in Blues or Ospreys colours very soon

[Luckless Pedestrian]

I can't see him staying. Even if we do improve, we're not going to improve enough to be challenging for silverware.

[Guest]

Yeah, a soon as I read that on Argus earlier it instantly sounded like Amos paving the way for his own exit. Reading between the lines you can see him saying 'It's about time we start seeing some progress....... or I'm not renewing and will be off'. And I don't blame him.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

You can't blame him at all.

[Stone Motif]

Interesting he defends the coaches.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

He has to, doesn't he? Although having said that, I've heard from someone who claims to speak to the players (and he's always in the hospitality suites so I have no reason to doubt him) that they think it's the best environment they've ever had in terms of preparation and stuff. So I don't know what to think really.

[Stone Motif]

Wonder which sh1thouse we'll bring in to replace him. Straight swap for Matthew Morgan anyone? Imagine Dowellais can't wait to see him lining up in a back three with Jordan Williams in a mouth watering display of blistering x factor attacking potential

[Luckless Pedestrian]

The perfect choice to shore up our defence.

[RiscaGame]

Amos has to say good things about the coaches, if nothing else to try and get a game at 15 for once.

He has to leave. Realistically Tyler does too. Playing in the Dragons backline won’t do any player favours, that has international ambitions. I think our forwards can get away with it, as their bread and butter like the scrums etc aren’t too bad.

[RiscaGame]

He has to, doesn't he? Although having said that, I've heard from someone who claims to speak to the players (and he's always in the hospitality suites so I have no reason to doubt him) that they think it's the best environment they've ever had in terms of preparation and stuff. So I don't know what to think really.

It’s bound to be more of a professional environment, because Jackman has been able to hire much more staff. I was watching them on the flight to Galway and there were people like Barry Maddocks putting a lot of work in, on training analysis. But Amos saying how hard they have to work for their tries doesn’t read well.

[Stone Motif]

Some interesting stats on ESPN. Firstly, that was one of our best set piece performances this season. Usual glut of handling errors, turnovers and missed tackles, which adds weight to the Amos summary that it's not the coaches, just cack players.

Honourable mentions to Taine Basham, best carrying performance this season especially in the context, and Lewis Evans, who despite being out of position racked up 26 tackles.

Less honourable mention to Joe fecking Davies. How can a pro lock forward in this day and age not produce a single carry. His sum total contribution was six tackles.

[RiscaGame]

Impressive stats by Evans. Did Cudd do anything of note?

Davies can still expect to remain up the pecking order. I think
I’m further up than Landman for one.

[Stone Motif]

Impressive stats by Evans. Did Cudd do anything of note?

Davies can still expect to remain up the pecking order. I think
I’m further up than Landman for one.

He was up there in tackle count on 18. Zero impact from carries but that's not what he's there for.

[Guest]

Credit to Lewis Evans. I was critical previously, but it was more to do with his selection at lock than critical of him as a player. Excellent tackle stats from him. But I suppose that's what you want from a flanker (i.e. tackling. Although that's over and above what you'd usually expect).

Joe Davies I guess sometimes the ball just does not come your way. But even so, 6 tackles and no carries is pretty grim! I think Lewis Evans was doing Joe's share of the tackling.

[Guest]

Anyone watched Cardiff RFC vs RGC? The ref used to play for Newport! Rhys Jones. Christ he’s aged! Still think he’s only about 30 years of age but looks 50  Played flanker around 98/99 I think. Pre-Dragons anyway.

[RiscaGame]

No, but I hear they lost ten minutes coverage. Still, I’m sure some were happy with Scrum V’s coverage.

I can’t remember the ref. Sounds like a classic at Rodney Parade right now anyway.

[RiscaGame]

A classic at Cross Keys too.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

We're going to lose to Russia tonight, aren't we?

[LordDowlais]

We're going to lose to Russia tonight, aren't we?

Is the game on the box ?

[Luckless Pedestrian]

I doubt it.

[LordDowlais]

Ah, oh well.

I was hoping I could catch it, because I am going to watch the footy for a change tonight. I was hoping that the game would be on tele and I could SKY+ it.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

You might be able to get it on a Russian station!

[Luckless Pedestrian]

We're going to lose to Russia tonight, aren't we?

Happy to say I was wrong about this. I'll try to repeat the trick:

We're going to lose to Edinburgh on Sunday, aren't we?

[Guest]

We're going to lose to Russia tonight, aren't we?

Happy to say I was wrong about this. I'll try to repeat the trick:

We're going to lose to Edinburgh on Sunday, aren't we?

G’wan Edinburgh! ...... I think!

[mikey_dragon]

Amos in the squad but can’t see him making the match day unless we have more back 3 injuries.

[RiscaGame]

I can’t see him making it either. He will be bench at best, but I think he will be travelling reserve. Bit of a shame, but on the upside we do have some players back for Dragons (Ollie Griffiths, Jared Rosser, Matthew Screech, Arwel Robson and Brandon Nansen)

Not that I expect us to do much v Edinburgh mind. I guess with Robson fit, Tovey won’t be involved.

[RiscaGame]

Well well. Chris Kirwan has said Tovey will be ten.

We’ve had two weeks of prep for Edinburgh and have made some changes (to the defensive system)

I am unsure if I have said it on here, but why not try these changes out v Russia, with as close to the team facing Edinburgh as possible?

Whole article Here

[Stone Motif]

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/17243314.former-boss-jones-no-easy-answers-to-dragons-problems-they-must-stick-to-their-guns/

Lyp's two penneth...

[EWT Spoons]

Morning all, sorry to intrude on your chat, just wanted to point you in the direction of a match thread for the Edinburgh game this weekend. Feel free to ignore/contribute as you see fit

https://www.606v2.com/t68204-pro14-dragons-vs-edinburgh-25-11#3757058

[PhilBB]

Amos in the squad but can’t see him making the match day unless we have more back 3 injuries.

And it looks like he's out of the Dragons in the summer.

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