NEWS Corey Parker is back in the house

Coach Kevin Walters has restored another little bridge back to the past with the recall of Corey Parker as a forwards mentor. Walters said this back in February following what appeared to be a bustup between the pair when Parker was let go as a coaching assistant:

“There’s no bad blood for me with Corey. He is the second-most capped player at this club and he has a lot to add to the Broncos. That’s not what this is about. Down the track, he has a lot to offer and even right now, there are things he can do for our club as an ambassador. I just felt I needed experience in my assistants and ‘Carty’ and Terry Matterson have each been coaching for 20 years. It was like me with Wayne, I went away to work on my coaching to get experience and it was good for me."

“There’s nothing against Corey. He is always welcome at the Broncos.”

McHunt

 

[WASSHHH]

The Dragons are in 6th??? Wow this comp is horrible if that side is good enough to be sixth.

I get your point, but people who live in glass houses.

We’ve seen signs here and there of improvement, but unless we see some drastic improvement soon, we’re a very good chance of back to back spoons.

How the mighty have fallen.

 

[Huge]

Fair enough as long as they leave room for the likes of Dufty, Lomax and Ramsay to keep coming through and Moose can keep himself out of trouble. Hook definitely has Hunt back in form and somehow Jack Bird has managed to not get injured. McCullough doesn’t seem so average these days either.
I rate Rava highly too.

Just on McCullough, he was playing very well for Newcastle before injury and they were pretty happy with him. I watched him several times and he kept the rhythm constant and had a spring in his step.

 

[theshed]

Just on McCullough, he was playing very well for Newcastle before injury and they were pretty happy with him. I watched him several times and he kept the rhythm constant and had a spring in his step.

Yeah, I thought he could’ve really been a point of difference this season. A reliable rock in the middle and an obvious captain.

I get why we let him go but I really think we should’ve tried to sell him on finishing his contract with us this year.

 

[Kooly87]

Yeah, I thought he could’ve really been a point of difference this season. A reliable rock in the middle and an obvious captain.

I get why we let him go but I really think we should’ve tried to sell him on finishing his contract with us this year.

It would have been the wrong thing for him and I just don't see any viable way for us to convince him that one year with us was better than three years at the Dragons.

We were in a far weaker bargaining position than Souths were with Adam Reynolds and look how that panned out for them.

 

[theshed]

It would have been the wrong thing for him and I just don't see any viable way for us to convince him that one year with us was better than three years at the Dragons.

We were in a far weaker bargaining position than Souths were with Adam Reynolds and look how that panned out for them.

Not really, he had a legally binding contract that required him to stay for this year. We chose to let him go.

I know there were both selfish and altruistic reasons we let him go early but I think it’s a shame that it couldn’t have been worked out.

 

[Kooly87]

Not really, he had a legally binding contract that required him to stay for this year. We chose to let him go.

I know there were both selfish and altruistic reasons we let him go early but I think it’s a shame that it couldn’t have been worked out.

Yes, obviously we could have enforced his contract, but doing something like that to someone who served the club so loyally for so long tends to do even further damage to how other players perceive the club on a broader scale.

It was the right thing to do for both parties and hardly anyone could have reasonably objected to it at the time and probably not even objected to it now.

 

[theshed]

Yes, obviously we could have enforced his contract, but doing something like that to someone who served the club so loyally for so long tends to do even further damage to how other players perceive the club on a broader scale.

It was the right thing to do for both parties and hardly anyone could have reasonably objected to it at the time and probably not even objected to it now.

Melbourne wouldn’t have done it.

 

[Kooly87]

Melbourne wouldn’t have done it.

Melbourne don't have highly paid guys they don't have a real plan on using in the first place.

You're conveniently forgetting that he was BEHIND Turpin going into this year.

 

[theshed]

Melbourne don't have highly paid guys they don't have a real plan on using in the first place.

You're conveniently forgetting that he was BEHIND Turpin going into this year.

He shouldn’t have been behind Turpin.

A team completely void of experience, leadership, and any semblance of a functioning spine and you let go of the guy who improves all 3.

I’m not saying a happy resolution could have been reached, because perhaps there wasn’t one, I’m just saying it’s a shame that it didn’t because I think the team this year is far better with Macca in it then out of it. Strange how we reached a new low last year when Macca left, Newcastle had a hot run before he go injured, and now Dragons are sitting at 6th.

Macca isn’t a gun by any means but he isn’t a loser, he’s reliable, and he has a wealth of experience.

 

[Kooly87]

He shouldn’t have been behind Turpin.

A team completely void of experience, leadership, and any semblance of a functioning spine and you let go of the guy who improves all 3.

I’m not saying a happy resolution could have been reached, because perhaps there wasn’t one, I’m just saying it’s a shame that it didn’t because I think the team this year is far better with Macca in it then out of it. Strange how we reached a new low last year when Macca left, Newcastle had a hot run before he go injured, and now Dragons are sitting at 6th.

Macca isn’t a gun by any means but he isn’t a loser, he’s reliable, and he has a wealth of experience.

I agree with your last points, but you're saying this with the benefit of hindsight, which is always 20/20.

He was very, very poor for us and just about everyone was glad to see him gone to the Knights, where he subsequently played a handful of games then broke down for the balance of the season.

Turpin isn't even that good and he comfortably managed to outplay him and then force him out of the side while he was here, which tells you exactly how hard a time Macca was having back then.

We're now seeing Turpin's limitations in full, and Macca is doing a decent job at the Dragons, but it was always about getting bang for buck and while he might be close to it right now, Macca at $550k a year just wasn't providing value at the time.

 

[theshed]

I agree with your last points, but you're saying this with the benefit of hindsight, which is always 20/20.

He was very, very poor for us and just about everyone was glad to see him gone to the Knights, where he subsequently played a handful of games then broke down for the balance of the season.

Turpin isn't even that good and he comfortably managed to outplay him and then force him out of the side while he was here, which tells you exactly how hard a time Macca was having back then.

We're now seeing Turpin's limitations in full, and Macca is doing a decent job at the Dragons, but it was always about getting bang for buck and while he might be close to it right now, Macca at $550k a year just wasn't providing value at the time.

Hindsight is 20/20 but you can go back and check, I was raving about this in the preseason., I even had Macca as my avatar.

550k per year is bad bang for your bucks but we paid half of that anyway. I would’ve offered him the captaincy for this year and offered him a 2 year extension on a highly reduced deal. Then if he still wanted to take the money at the dragons I would’ve said “no worries, fair enough. We can’t afford to go higher but at least see out your final season with us”.

 

[Huge]

I agree with your last points, but you're saying this with the benefit of hindsight, which is always 20/20.

He was very, very poor for us and just about everyone was glad to see him gone to the Knights, where he subsequently played a handful of games then broke down for the balance of the season.

Turpin isn't even that good and he comfortably managed to outplay him and then force him out of the side while he was here, which tells you exactly how hard a time Macca was having back then.

We're now seeing Turpin's limitations in full, and Macca is doing a decent job at the Dragons, but it was always about getting bang for buck and while he might be close to it right now, Macca at $550k a year just wasn't providing value at the time.

Actually, Macca wasn't going badly from the very first moment in Newcastle. He started strongly and Newcastle really enjoyed the way he brought rhythm and cohesion in to the team. His injury slowed down Newcastle's progress.

 

[McHunt]

Walters:

It’s great to have Corey back. I wanted to use him in a few areas, I wanted to seek his knowledge and expertise in a few areas, particularly with our young forwards. Corey can assist them and mentor them with their games both in defence and attack."

“Corey has a very good football brain. He was quite smart as a player and he is up to speed with the trends in the game as a recently retired player, so it’s good to have him back on deck.”

Jake Turpin:

“Cozza is very knowledgeable about the game, he is very smart and a very good role model for the younger guys. We have inexperienced forwards and Cozza was a really good role model for the younger guys. To have a guy who had played more than 300 games of NRL helping us, he was excellent, he brought a lot of knowledge around ruck play and how we could improve as forwards.”

But maybe Parker has his eye on Kevvie's job:

“I love the thrill of coaching and I will still look to pursue that. I am really enjoying my work as a commentator with Fox but I love passing on knowledge and the things I forged as a player for 20 years to young players and helping them get better.”

McHunt

 

[Sproj]

Letting Macca go (for reals this time) was the right decision given he had a three year contract on the table from the Dragons. Is he better than Turpin? Probably but it is clutching at straws here, neither of them are what we need long term. At ONE THIRD the price of Macca, you’d take Turpin every time.

The reality is, this year was always going to be rock bottom with the amount of money we have playing for other teams and not good enough for first grade, so it is short term pain for hopefully long term gain.

Let’s not forget that even with Macca on our books, we are still totally hamstrung by some terrible contracts - Bird, Milford, Croft, possibly Boyd’s retirement, Joffa, etc are possibly taking up 30% or more of our cap and are NOT in the team. Macca wouldn’t fix that issue. We are also paying a coach a million dollars to NOT coach us.

How the recruitment and retention guys still have a job is beyond me. What further proof do you need?

 

[broncsgoat]

The Dragons are in 6th??? Wow this comp is horrible if that side is good enough to be sixth.

8th spot has a 40% win record, the competition is in fucking disarray

 

[Kooly87]

Actually, Macca wasn't going badly from the very first moment in Newcastle. He started strongly and Newcastle really enjoyed the way he brought rhythm and cohesion in to the team. His injury slowed down Newcastle's progress.

I'm not suggesting he was playing badly at Newcastle, but he wasn't playing at that level for us and hadn't been for some time (to be entirely fair to him, most of our squad was producing their worst football at the time) but factually speaking, he only played a handful of games then broke down for the rest of the season, so it wasn't much of a sample size.

None of that to me was enough to suggest that letting him go was a terrible idea. He came with a high cost and we had no real plan to use him for the money. Both parties made the right call with the information available at the time. Turpin costs a third as much, but is definitely closer than that to Macca in performance right now.

 

[Huge]

I'm not suggesting he was playing badly at Newcastle, but he wasn't playing at that level for us and hadn't been for some time (to be entirely fair to him, most of our squad was producing their worst football at the time) but factually speaking, he only played a handful of games then broke down for the rest of the season, so it wasn't much of a sample size.

None of that to me was enough to suggest that letting him go was a terrible idea. He came with a high cost and we had no real plan to use him for the money. Both parties made the right call with the information available at the time. Turpin costs a third as much, but is definitely closer than that to Macca in performance right now.

I'm not saying the decision to dump him was right or wrong and I think I wasn't worried at the time of his departure. He certainly wasn't lighting the place up. I watched him to see if there was going to be an improvement or otherwise after the transplant. I thought he was re-energized by the change of scenery and wasn't surprised to see that again after seeing it in Newcastle when he started with the Saints.