My 2 cents

[Fro]

yeah thus my question. i was wondering where he disapeared to?

 

[Fluffy]

If what rambo says it true then Orford should be booted right now and Hodgkinson straight in.

2 year ago, end of the 2007 season we started our prep for 2008 and looked what happened then.

 

[Canteen Worker]

Did a google search of him and he seems to have dropped off the radar totally.

 

[mwsneagle]

[quote author=Fro link=topic=181743.msg242090#msg242090 date=1252982102]
It wsn't that long ago CW.

Agreed - last season but he spent most of his time on the injured list. Looked good for 10 seconds and then disappeared.
[/quote]
That raises an interesting point about cutting Orford loose immediately, what if the new one they are trying to "blood" gets injured.....what backup then?

 

[Rambo1987]

I am backing Orford only on 2 things.

1. Who do we have as backup - Hodkinson although looks good but could be anaother Robson. Foran at half would be good but moving Lyon from the centres is only weakening one position for another.

2. Look at the halfs we have gone through since Toovey. We got Craig Field which was a joke of a buy then we had a couple of no names. We went through some of the worse times waiting for Orford then we won the comp.

There are no good halfs out there on the market and the only option is Orford - So support him for next year. I feel bad as the next guy for being knocked out this year but to be honest after our start we were lucky to finish 5th.

Over the next 2 years I hope Foran & Hodkinson get to play regular first grade (from the bench at least) And then we will know if we have a replacement for Orford. Throwing a kid with the ability of these two might just see them fall away like Field, Hayden and who ever we used at half and 5/8.  

Last year we were supporting him and the team as they marched to the GF and this year he is being hanged for not making the GF when there are a number of other reasons. Short memory guys.

Go Manly

 

[Fro]

Halves.

 

[OneEyedEagle]

Well put Rambo.

I'm not prepared to wait 10 years for anther premiership and world club championship.

A great half pairing takes a lot of time to develop and for that reason Orford should remain the incumbent and slowly be phased out once we have a suitable replacement that has proven track record week in week out.

Its only emotions that are flying about with the let’s get rid of Orford now war cry.

I'm all for him signing on again for a 1 or 2 year deal but it wouldn't be top $ or at the expense of Foran.

 

[Fro]

Its only emotions that are flying about with the let’s get rid of Orford now war cry.

Wrong. some people have been advocating getting rid of him for a number of years.

Apart from that I agree with everything you say above 100%, but if we sign him he should be the backup, not the first string.

and as you say, top dollar is not for him.

 

[DSM5]

Keeping him will keep me interested.  Two for the price of one.  A win/win for some of you.

 

[conanu]

If we got rid of Orford tommorow it wouldnt fix anything. I cant believe some people want him gone so badly. I would be the first to say that he struggles when the rest of the team dont completely dominate, however I would still prefer him over:

Kimmorley (Sharks got rid of him last year as they thought it was him holding them back, 3rd to 2nd last we could potentially make the same error with Ox, Regardless he was useless for us)

Sandow (Never kicked on like he did in 1st year)
Wallace ( Totally over-rated Lockyer and brisbane make him seem decent)
Pearce (Even more Over-Rated came last nuff said)
Cronk (Smith, Inglis, Slater, enough said)
Seymore (Just plain rubbish)
Mullin (Johns has taught all he has to get this bloke to mediocre Over- Rated)
Soward (If you offered him over Ox last year i would have laughed, still hasnt achieved anything really)
Stacey Jones (Very good but too old now)
Walsh (Too early to tell still 1st season didnt make finals)
Mortimer (Could be next big thing but still only first real season)
McCrone (No finals bottom 8 not even really first grader)

The only blokes i would swap him for are:
Thurston
Prince
and thats not going to happen.

So before we chuck the baby out with the dirty bath water we should hang onto him for a couple more seasons but at a discounted offer/rate and not at the expense of losing Foran. If we offer him 2 years and less cash and he walks well so be it, but i dont think we should be pushing him out the door he isnt that bad.

Remember Foran could be another Luke Dorn we just dont know yet.

 

[Andrew..]

The guys been on about 400k for the last 3 or 4 yrs and to his credit he has captained us to a record winning premiership, I don't think many of us on here would happily put our hands up for, say a 25% pay cut, and that still leaves us with a 300k half.
I truly have nothing against the ox but at the end of the day it does come down to value for money.

He could probably earn those kind of dollars and more in the ESL, so the question is how much is Matt Orford worth to us ?

 

[conanu]

The guys been on about 400k for the last 3 or 4 yrs and to his credit he has captained us to a record winning premiership, I don't think many of us on here would happily put our hands up for, say a 25% pay cut, and that still leaves us with a 300k half.
I truly have nothing against the ox but at the end of the day it does come down to value for money.

He could probably earn those kind of dollars and more in the ESL, so the question is how much is Matt Orford worth to us ?

Yeah Manlyborn that is probably the better way of looking at it, As he is not as bad as some might suggest. Like i said Sharks thought Kimmorley was the problem for them last year and look now.

 

[Rambo1987]

[quote author=manlyborn link=topic=181743.msg242189#msg242189 date=1253006571]
The guys been on about 400k for the last 3 or 4 yrs and to his credit he has captained us to a record winning premiership, I don't think many of us on here would happily put our hands up for, say a 25% pay cut, and that still leaves us with a 300k half.
I truly have nothing against the ox but at the end of the day it does come down to value for money.

He could probably earn those kind of dollars and more in the ESL, so the question is how much is Matt Orford worth to us ?

Yeah Manlyborn that is probably the better way of looking at it, As he is not as bad as some might suggest. Like i said Sharks thought Kimmorley was the problem for them last year and look now.
[/quote]

Look where the Bulldogs are now.

 

[Dan]

Good points. But where does that leave us? Do you think the current crop will win us another premiership in the next 3 years? If not what is the point in throwing away 300k a year on orford when we can use that money to attract other players and give some younger kids a go in the mean time. If you think he will win us another with our roster then he is worth the money.

To me it just seems like we had such massive plans for winning a final in the next 5 years I.e. 2008. That we didn't stop to think about what we do after that. It will be sad to throw ox away like last weeks Chinese take away he has done a lot for us, but how long and how much money do you spend on saying thanks?