DCE confirms career call for 2026

[Bates]

How do you manage to turn every thread into a Dom Young sob story.

If you can't see the talent of Mark Nawaqanitawase then I can't help you mate.

Defending the whipping boys will always get a reaction.

Sally trolling 101

[Lydon]

The Dragons are the perfect fit for DCE.

Flanno loves a has-been and he get's to live in Sydney.

Match made in heaven..

[Bates]

Match made in heaven..

The penny dropped last night when the Dragons were getting pumped by a younger, faster, fitter etc side.

Flanno doesn't quite get the new dynamics of the 6 again era. Seibold finally sees it hence why DCE is now surplus to needs.

[Paddo Colt 61]

I have no regrets with SBW and Cronk helping us win three premierships.

Nor does anyone else but is DCE in that league? I'd venture not, though he is a very good Half no question. I'll be surprised if the Chooks sign him and disappointed.

[BondiBob]

I have no regrets with SBW and Cronk helping us win three premierships.

Not in the same class

[Paddo Colt 61]

My comment was in response to "sick of the mercenaries". As in, I bet you are not sick of SBW and Cronk. It is you and a couple others that have inferred a different meaning.

and yes I know I could have been clearer.

It's difficult a difficult call "mercenary", they are, after all, professional footballers and it's a punt on whether they are professional enough to buy into the system. In Cronk's case, he became the on field system but I think that his brand of professionalism was never in doubt.

But I know what you mean. Bonding and building loyalty and commitment to the Club is clearly the raison for the Academy and it's going very nicely atm with the younguns coming through. They're having a red hot go re the commitment and are far more worthy than most blow ins.

[Inflictor]

I just can’t understand this decision from DCE’s perspective..

After playing 14 seasons at the same Club and also captaining them why would you switch to one of their rivals for one or possibly two years at the age of 37,what’s the thought process behind it?

Wouldn’t it be better to either retire or go play overseas?

Very confusing from his end to be honest.

DCE reminds me of this Frankie Valli clip.
Will try to blood a stone while people still think he plays like he did 5 years ago.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-iQt...BtYWIxN3U4azVy

[Rooster_6]

Rooster_6's view is set completions doesn't matter and would rather have 20 quality sets out of 40 rather than 35 so called average sets out 40 set completions

This is just flat out dishonesty on your part. You are referring to this post below which you've conveniently reworded to take another petty shot at me.

My point is simply that completion rates are not as important as you continually present them as. I would rather have 20 highly quality, value add sets rather than 25 average sets.

High completion, minimal risk footy is only one way to play the game.

This assertion of yours that teams have to complete at 80% at a minimum just to be able to compete doesn't stand up to any kind of critical analysis.

It still bemuses me that your own club have proven this theory inaccurate when we went back to back and yet you still hold on so strongly to your conclusion;

2018

- The Bulldogs ranked 1st for completion rate but finished 12th on the ladder
- The 2018 Grand Final was the Roosters (ranked 12th for set completion %) Vs the Storm (ranked 14th for set completion %)

2019
- The Bulldogs again ranked 1st for completion rate but yet again finished 12th on the ladder
- The 2019 Grand Final was the Roosters (ranked 14th for set completion %) Vs the Raiders (ranked 3rd for set completion %)

Here's a breakdown of the 2018 season as an example by final ranking on the NRL ladder and then final ranking based on set completion % rates, there's absolutely nothing there that suggests there is a correlation between set completion rate and a teams success.




And I know the retort is going to be "it was less important pre 6-again blah blah blah", so look at last years ladder and it tells a very familiar story.




Lets also look at the team I cited earlier, the Bulldogs as an example. Once they started to move away from the Dean Pay & Trent Barrett's high completion rate style of football and rebuilt their squad with attacking based players who weren't so obsessed with completion rates they started to improve their results. Now this isn't to say that the style is the most important factor, obviously the players and coach are of a higher quality it's just worth noting that irrespective of their style of play they've been able to succeed moving away from a high completion rate style of play which contradicts everything you've been saying about the importance of completion rates.




None of this is to say the high completion football isn't a style that works in the NRL, there are equally as many coaches & clubs who have achieved a lot of success playing a high completion rate style of football, I think of Bennett at the Dragons and Cleary at the Panthers. It's just not the only way to play the game, and this is my point you are blindsided by assuming there is only one way to play the game and be successful.

This is not to be misconstrued with games where there are a lot of fundamental errors in bad field position like the Roosters V Raiders. When and where you make your errors is super important to any style of play and fundamental errors in poor field position is never going to be conducive to positive outcomes.

When I talk about different styles of play I'm talking about Sam Walker throwing a cut out ball in a 4 on 3 overlap because that's what his coach encourages Vs an Andrew Webster as coach who would encourage his team to play one pass, through the hands footy to exploit the overlap. The cut out pass is far more effective but it also comes with greater risk.

Put simply I think all Rugby League fans know that all errors are not equal and this is where the set completion rate % becomes a flawed statistic because it just measures the total number of errors, not the value of the errors.

This is why it's important to use statistics within the context of also watching the game and forming your own opinions irrespective of the stats.

[caz]

you can argue that 'unforced errors' in attack are never a good thing while acknowledging that we've show that you can win comps with comparatively poor completion rates. this year, we've made way too many unforced errors. without them, we'd be in the 8. glass half full, this augurs well for the rest of the season. if we can cut out unforced errors we'll go alright

[caz]

for the sake of argument let's say the no to dce fans have won the argument. well done, but what happens if it's announced that he has signed?
i'm slightly against the signing as i was slightly against the signing of cronk, but when it's a done deal you move on and hope for the best

[Inflictor]

for the sake of argument let's say the no to dce fans have won the argument. well done, but what happens if it's announced that he has signed?
i'm slightly against the signing as i was slightly against the signing of cronk, but when it's a done deal you move on and hope for the best

As one of the biggest No supporters give or take, I have said I will support him 100% as soon as he runs out in RWB and hope he kills it. At the same time I will give him the same criticism I gave Townsend as soon as it's clear he is costing us games. A bit hard to drop a $1M player down to NSW Cup though. I hope it never comes to that because I can't see Robbo dropping him.

[caz]

As one of the biggest No supporters give or take, I have said I will support him 100% as soon as he runs out in RWB and hope he kills it. At the same time I will give him the same criticism I gave Townsend as soon as it's clear he is costing us games. A bit hard to drop a $1M player down to NSW Cup though. I hope it never comes to that because I can't see Robbo dropping him.

yeah, if we sign him we'll all want him to do well

[Steggles]

yeah, if we sign him we'll all want him to do well

Like we do for anyone wearing our colours.

[Steggles]

This is just flat out dishonesty on your part. You are referring to this post below which you've conveniently reworded to take another petty shot at me.



This assertion of yours that teams have to complete at 80% at a minimum just to be able to compete doesn't stand up to any kind of critical analysis.

It still bemuses me that your own club have proven this theory inaccurate when we went back to back and yet you still hold on so strongly to your conclusion;

2018

- The Bulldogs ranked 1st for completion rate but finished 12th on the ladder
- The 2018 Grand Final was the Roosters (ranked 12th for set completion %) Vs the Storm (ranked 14th for set completion %)

2019
- The Bulldogs again ranked 1st for completion rate but yet again finished 12th on the ladder
- The 2019 Grand Final was the Roosters (ranked 14th for set completion %) Vs the Raiders (ranked 3rd for set completion %)

Here's a breakdown of the 2018 season as an example by final ranking on the NRL ladder and then final ranking based on set completion % rates, there's absolutely nothing there that suggests there is a correlation between set completion rate and a teams success.




And I know the retort is going to be "it was less important pre 6-again blah blah blah", so look at last years ladder and it tells a very familiar story.




Lets also look at the team I cited earlier, the Bulldogs as an example. Once they started to move away from the Dean Pay & Trent Barrett's high completion rate style of football and rebuilt their squad with attacking based players who weren't so obsessed with completion rates they started to improve their results. Now this isn't to say that the style is the most important factor, obviously the players and coach are of a higher quality it's just worth noting that irrespective of their style of play they've been able to succeed moving away from a high completion rate style of play which contradicts everything you've been saying about the importance of completion rates.




None of this is to say the high completion football isn't a style that works in the NRL, there are equally as many coaches & clubs who have achieved a lot of success playing a high completion rate style of football, I think of Bennett at the Dragons and Cleary at the Panthers. It's just not the only way to play the game, and this is my point you are blindsided by assuming there is only one way to play the game and be successful.

This is not to be misconstrued with games where there are a lot of fundamental errors in bad field position like the Roosters V Raiders. When and where you make your errors is super important to any style of play and fundamental errors in poor field position is never going to be conducive to positive outcomes.

When I talk about different styles of play I'm talking about Sam Walker throwing a cut out ball in a 4 on 3 overlap because that's what his coach encourages Vs an Andrew Webster as coach who would encourage his team to play one pass, through the hands footy to exploit the overlap. The cut out pass is far more effective but it also comes with greater risk.

Put simply I think all Rugby League fans know that all errors are not equal and this is where the set completion rate % becomes a flawed statistic because it just measures the total number of errors, not the value of the errors.

This is why it's important to use statistics within the context of also watching the game and forming your own opinions irrespective of the stats.

Great post R6; one of the best I’ve read.

[milanja]

for the sake of argument let's say the no to dce fans have won the argument. well done, but what happens if it's announced that he has signed?
i'm slightly against the signing as i was slightly against the signing of cronk, but when it's a done deal you move on and hope for the best

Of course I will support him.

he is a dik, but he will be our dik.