Tom Dearden Discussion

unnerv1ng said:
I definitely agree there. Milford as a running 5/8 with the big bomb and the occasional short kick behind the line + supporting our forwards in attack is now than enough for me. If Bird goes, I would be going after Chambers as a cheaper replacement and trying to hunt down a fullback. I would hate to see Dearden go elsewhere for an opportunity.
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100% I would love for someone to come in and mentor then both but isn't that a job for the likes of Lockyer, Langer Lewis, Walters etc (look at Milf and Hunt in 2015). Would love to get some of the old boys spending some more time at training. Even bringing in one of the Johns brothers or someone of their calibre.
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Good point.
 
unnerv1ng said:
I am a little baffled.

We have been calling for one of young halves to be blooded for the last 2 years and that kid was Dearden. We let Niko go on the basis that Dearden was going to fill that hole, He only played 5 games this year and we knocked off the premiership favourites, Manly in top flight and also the warriors.

Now all of a sudden we want a new halfback. Surely he is our man and we invest in an experienced 5/8 to mentor him for a year or 2.

Or do we shift Milford back to 5/8 and use our money to buy a premier fullback like Papenhuyzen, Ponga, etc.

Milford has one of the best pressure bombs in the comp (if not the best) and can run rings around players when he isn't expected to do the organising.

I think we would be better of utilising out funds on a fullback and retaining Fifita and Oates.

What am I missing?
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He isnt the sokution. He is part of the problem. And he is ginger to boot. Move him on and bring in somw proper quality - Sam Williams is available no?
 
I really like Tom, and I am very keen to give him his fair crack at the side. He looked a million times better in his limited games last year than someone like Taylor looked for his. He is just way too young still, and the last thing we want to do is stunt him. Sign an old head to lead the side in the short term and to mentor him in the background.

I knew way back when he walked away that we would probably regret letting Benji go, and **** me did that come to pass.
 
I also think Milford back to 6 and get a fullback.

If we can only bring in one big player, I'd go Holmes / Papa at fullback with Milford and Dearden in the halves, and Turpin at 9.

If we are able to get Holmes/Papa and a halfback, Sezer or Chad for 1-2 years would be good to help Dearden transition.

Milford is a top tier 6. He just needs a decent halfback and decent fullback with him. In 2015 and 2016 he was one of the best players in the game, where he had Ben Hunt help take pressure off and do kicks, and Boyd was actually decent then.

The issue Milford has now is he's trying to be a 1,6 and 7. He gets literally 0 support from the other members of the spine. Having a fullback with support play and a strong running game would be amazing for Milford. Dearden I think is stable enough there and can do some kicks, but Sezer would be good too.
 
jarro65 said:
Lockyer offered to help Milford out a couple of seasons ago and Milford knocked him back

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That should have sent alarm bells ringing. What person in their right mind would decline advice from a future immortal. This is perhaps why his game has not elevated to that next level, he is not a student of the game.
 
NSW stables said:
That should have sent alarm bells ringing. What person in their right mind would decline advice from a future immortal. This is perhaps why his game has not elevated to that next level, he is not a student of the game.
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Yeah it maybe is just a symptom of the clubs rotten culture in recent times, but Milf has never come across to me as an overly motivated guy. He needs someone there to regularly crack the whip, otherwise he's quite happy to wallow in mediocrity.
 
For me it’s nothing against Dearden. If anything it’s a slight against Milford and Boyd. We need a leader in our spine, we need an organiser in our halves. Not only do I think that Dearden is yet shown enough to have owned his starting spot, but I don’t even think it is fair to Dearden to bring him in to our spine as it stands.

I’d be very happy for Dearden to start if we get a controlling and experienced 5/8th in the form of a Foran or Maloney to partner him and lead the team around. But it doesn’t look likely and I’m not sold on Milford at fullback. So unfortunately for Dearden I think the best way to reshuffle our deck with what is available is to get a good fullback and unspectacular but experienced halfback to partner Milf, bookended by Turpin at hooker.

TL:DR; Dearden doesn’t yet have what we need, and what we do have doesn’t provide Dearden with what he requires to become the half back we need. It’s a catch 22 for Dearden I’m afraid.
 
I bleed Maroon said:
Yeah it maybe is just a symptom of the clubs rotten culture in recent times, but Milf has never come across to me as an overly motivated guy. He needs someone there to regularly crack the whip, otherwise he's quite happy to wallow in mediocrity.
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Take this as a shot against Wayne too. Anyone else would tell Milf to shut up and work with your specialist coach. Obviously Milford is the biggest culprit here for refusing it, but what sort of coach just lets that attitude slide?
 
We need another half, with SOS now out for an extended period and assuming Milf goes back to 6 that really only leaves Deardon at 7, if either of those go down we will be right back at Turpin or Boyd filling in at half again.....Which is bad.

Even more importantly we need someone to lead this team around. Deardon is still young, we can't lump all that on him and expect us to be world beaters next year. If we do just run with Deardon we are going to have to be patient.
 
Waynesaurus said:
We need another half, with SOS now out for an extended period and assuming Milf goes back to 6 that really only leaves Deardon at 7, if either of those go down we will be right back at Turpin or Boyd filling in at half again.....Which is bad.

Even more importantly we need someone to lead this team around. Deardon is still young, we can't lump all that on him and expect us to be world beaters next year. If we do just run with Deardon we are going to have to be patient.
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That's no necessarily true though. If Segeyaro is still here he's matured enough to play a role as a halfback. I don't believe we'll ever see Boyd and Turps there again either in partnership or singularly. No, Seibold won't ever do that again I'm certain. I feel certain that by next season's start we'll have at least two new options that will either backup Dearden and Milf or replace Dearden at the start and introduce him later in the year. I'm optimistic.
 
We honestly should be in no rush with Dearden. He's really, really young and in reality to expect him to go from MM Cup to the NRL full time with only a handful of Queensland Cup games in between is a monumental ask. He pulled us out of a real hole last season but I think we'd be doing everyone involved a favour if we gave him the breathing space to spend a full season in Queensland Cup to develop himself while we sort out the rest of our squad and in another season's time he might be banging down the door to be picked, at which point we could move a seasoned player like Sezer on to make way for him.

If we choose to play him as our starting Halfback next season without having some insurance to protect that risk, I think it would be suicidal. Aside from the potential for his form to not be good enough over an extended period, you have a teenager who may find the physical aspects of week to week NRL too much as well. The warning signs are already there this year that his body could use some more conditioning to get him up to speed.
 
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I'm on the fence - he was fine in his first 5 games, and he will be 19 next year... not that uncommon an age to be playing full time. Our two best players are 19.

He just looks like such a little fella though - and then he got injured. so maybe the bod needs to grow and bulk MASS GAINS
 
something said:
I'm on the fence - he was fine in his first 5 games, and he will be 19 next year... not that uncommon an age to be playing full time. Our two best players are 19.

He just looks like such a little fella though - and then he got injured. so maybe the bod needs to grow and bulk MASS GAINS
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A scenario where we go to market for an experienced option like Sezer on a 1-2 year deal to try and help unlock Milford would be ideal. It allows Dearden to set himself the goal of competing in Queensland Cup each week and getting his body right for that. There won't be any pressure on him to step up before his time and realistically he can work on trying to set the Queensland Cup on fire before we bet out house on him being our regular starting Halfback, and if halfway through the season his form in Queensland Cup is so good we can't ignore it then obviously we can promote him.
 
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