Dureau re-signs for two more years

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Dureau targets long-term reign
ROBERT DILLON
28/05/2008​

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ROOKIE halfback Scott Dureau is poised to re-sign with the Newcastle Knights for two more years and plans to establish himself in that time as Andrew Johns's long-term successor.

Dureau's manager, David Riolo, said yesterday he was well advanced in negotiations with the Knights and expected a deal would be struck within the next few days.

Knights officials were similarly optimistic that an agreement was imminent.

"I'm pretty confident he'll stay, and hopefully we'll have something sorted out by the end of the week," Riolo said.

"There was a little bit of interest [from other clubs] but he's not really looking at it.

"He wanted to stay in Newcastle.

"Unless that fell down, we wouldn't even look elsewhere."

Dureau, who made his NRL debut last season and has played in six top-grade games this year, said yesterday that re-signing with the Knights would cap off "a big 12 months for me".

"Hopefully we can get something sorted out, sooner rather than later," he said.


"It will be nice to get it out of the way and know what I'm doing for the next couple of years.

"Then I can just concentrate on footy."

Newcastle have used four halfbacks Luke Walsh, Jarrod Mullen, Kurt Gidley and Dureau since Johns retired 13 months ago, and Dureau declared he wants to consolidate himself as first receiver.

"That's my goal to make that No.7 jersey my own," he said. "If I can do that, that'd be good."

Retaining 21-year-old Dureau has become a priority for Newcastle after five-eighth Chris Bailey announced last week that he was joining Manly next year.

Bailey's exit has increased pressure on the Knights to shore up their playmaking options, but coach Brian Smith said last night that re-signing Dureau would ensure there is plenty of depth around the scrumbase.

"We'll have three of them [Mullen, Walsh and Dureau] there in those halves spots, and also we've got Kurt [Gidley] there as well, who can do it at a pinch.

"We'd be pretty confident about our depth around the halves with those four guys there.

"We had to make up our minds a bit with Bails and Scotty Dureau, and it was a tough call."

Smith denied that Bailey's decision had prompted the Knights to fast-track discussions with Dureau.

"Scotty was always in our plans," Smith said. "We've been negotiating with his manager for a couple of months."

The loss of Bailey and the likely retention of Dureau indicates that Mullen will be able to settle into his preferred position of five-eighth.

But the presence of Walsh, who has been stuck in Newcastle's NSW Cup (reserve-grade) team after playing 13 NRL games last season, should keep Dureau honest.

"He's a good player, and he'll bounce back," Dureau said of Walsh.

"A little bit of competition is always good."

Dureau, who has been chosen in the starting line-up at Bailey's expense for Saturday's clash with the Warriors, has proven himself this season as a natural ball-player with a smart kicking game.

Smith had no doubt his best football was ahead of him.

"Scotty's made a heap of improvement, and we think he's still got plenty to go," Smith said.

"The consistency factor, and doing it over and over again, is a big thing. But he's certainly done all that we've asked of him this season, and he's lapped it up."

Meanwhile, the Knights have kicked off negotiations with the manager of prop Jesse Royal and winger Akuila Uate, who are both off contract at season's end.

Royal, 28, has been a mainstay of Newcastle's pack this season, appearing in all nine games.

Uate is yet to make his top-grade debut, but the 20-year-old Fijian is rated a future sensation by many sound judges.
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Herald
 
Great News if we can get all three to re-sign.

Then all weve got is MacDougall (Likely retirement)

Karawana & White I'm not worried about.
 
Good read. Can't wait till pen is put to paper, shouldn't be too far away according to that article.
 
Very encouraging news after loosing Bailey and possibly Sarge.

Hope Aku resigns, seeing as he hasn't played first grade yet, he might be tempted to look elsewhere.
 
My only doubt is Dureau signing on for 2 more years... why not 3? I mean we have a large bulk coming off contract for both the 2009 & 2010 season. Why add another one to the list.
 
Hopefully we can get Uate to stick around for a few more seasons to continue to develop and hopefully crack FG at some point in the near future, thing is though, I'm loving how both McManus and Vuna are playing at the moment. I really rate McManus as a solid winger whose as safe as a bank, and Vuna who was a little inconsistent at the beginning of the season has really turned it on the last few weeks and is playing like one of the top wingers in the league, so I have no idea where he's going to get his opportunity, especially seeing as though both McManus and Vuna are relatively young.

It's great to hear that Dureau is set to re-sign as I think Mullen and Dureau are our halves of the future, and as the article said, Walsh should keep him on his toes and playing at a high level.

Royal's been playing some good footy for us this season IMO so it's good to hear that we're keen to see him stick around for a couple more seasons aswell.

AK, Karawana doesn't worry me in the slightest either as we have Stig in the 20's who I'm a huge fan of and think he can potentially develop into something special. But I have to disagree with you on White. Every opportunity he's been given in FG (obviously not this season though) he's taken advantage of IMO and has been solid. I think he's a great front rower to have for depth purposes and if need be I think he can step up quite easily and provide us with another solid front rower off the bench. He's also only relatively young I believe and has decent size aswell. I think he's a keeper, especially seeing as though Sargent may be out the door in the very near future and considering he wouldn't be demanding much at all. As I said, I'm all for keeping White, but Karawana doesn't concern me honestly.
 
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On current form of the FG team, the only way to include Uate once he got to speed would be Mac to centre inside him. But at this stage I wouldn't move Mac for all the world, he doesn't score many tries, his positioning in attack is average, but he plays with the cool head and reliability seldom seen in players of 4 times his experience.


He's Quinn mk2 but with a heap more promise.
 
Great read, and glad to see that he's wanting to keep loyal to Newcastle.

Hopefully we manage to keep all our players, but the reality is that sometimes we can't.
 
Untitled23 said:
Great read, and glad to see that he's wanting to keep loyal to Newcastle.

Hopefully we manage to keep all our players, but the reality is that sometimes we can't.
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I just hope the two we can't keep are Karawana & White.

White will get a spot somewhere else not sure sure about Karawana.
 
Karawana is only 22 or so and has already played well in firstgrade - and he looks much bigger and stronger this year.
I think he has a future as a ball playing lock.
Pity we don't need more backrowers.
 
Roopy said:
Karawana is only 22 or so and has already played well in firstgrade - and he looks much bigger and stronger this year.
I think he has a future as a ball playing lock.
Pity we don't need more backrowers.
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That's the thing, I don't think he's a pure 5/8, I think he's more of a lock or maybe even potentially a hooker. He has had some FG experience, and I thought he was decent, but I think that's only because he didn't do anything wrong. I remember him being a solid defender but not being much of a ball player/ball distributor, and I didn't think he was effective enough running the ball to warrant much of a look in FG as a lock.

If we don't decide to re-sign him, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but I honestly haven't seen a lot of him, but from what I have seen of him, I'm just not really sure. As I said, in FG, I thought he was decent, but I didn't think he looked like much of a 5/8 because of his lack of ball playing ability, kicking game, and attacking flair. I also didn't think he was a strong enough ball runner to be an effective lock. He may have the potential to be more of a ball running 5/8 or more of a ball playing lock, but I'm just not sure. As I mentioned earlier, I think he may have the potential to play hooker though considering he's a strong defender and can throw a decent ball. I don't know. I'm not against keeping him around or anything like that, I just think we should make a couple of the other players a higher priority, but if we can re-sign Karawana for next to nothing, that will give us time to develop Stig in the NYC and eventually pair him up with Walsh in the NSWC and hopefully develop him enough so he's pushing for FG at some point over the next couple of years, as I think Stig's an impressive young player who's a true 5/8 because of his kicking game, ball playing skills, ball running ability, and solid defence.
 
On the Knights Boys... Jesse Quotes:

Steve Mount: Newcastle for Life Jess?
Jesse Royal: 'Yeh for sure mate, I love the place... Everyone has settled in and my kids love it'

He will re-sign.
 
Dureau Re-signs for another 2 years

Dureau seals deal, focuses on Warriors Halfback bouyed by extended contract
BY ROBERT DILLON
30/05/2008

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ROOKIE halfback Scott Dureau plans to cap off the biggest week of his fledgling NRL career by steering the Newcastle Knights to a win against New Zealand Warriors at EnergyAustralia Stadium tonight.

Dureau shook hands with Knights officials yesterday after accepting a contract for the next two years, but he said celebrations had been put on hold until after tonight's crucial clash.


"Now that it's sorted I can go into the game with a free mind and hopefully celebrate with my performance tomorrow," Dureau said last night.


"My girlfriend asked if I wanted to go out to dinner, but I said we'd have dinner at home tonight and go out and have a beer tomorrow after we beat the Warriors."


The 21-year-old, who made his NRL debut last season, has strung together six top-grade games in 2008 and stamped himself as a natural ball-player with a smart tactical kicking game.


His combination in the halves with Jarrod Mullen has prompted coach Brian Smith to shuffle Chris Bailey, who scored a hat-trick in Newcastle's last-start loss to the Tigers, back to the interchange bench tonight.


Last season Smith was uncertain about whether Dureau had what it takes to succeed at NRL, describing him as "just drifting along, looking like one of those blokes who enjoys hanging around first-grade footballers".


But the Port Macquarie junior worked tirelessly in the pre-season, making the most of his chance while Luke Walsh was struggling with illness and injury.


"Twelve months ago I had no idea where I was going to be, so to be in this position now is mind-blowing," Dureau said.


"It was a big move to come down from Port Macquarie when I was 16, not knowing how far I could go.


"But this sort of proves all that hard work was worth it . . . hopefully over the next two years I can establish myself as a first-grader and go from there."


The Knights are confident they are also close to re-signing Fijian winger Akuila Uate, but prop Mitchell Sargent, who will be Newcastle's 18th man tonight, is believed to be close to finalising a deal with an English club.


Meanwhile, Smith has challenged his troops to prove their loss to the Tigers which rates as Newcastle's lowest ebb this season was a one-off and not the first signs of a terminal malaise.


"Most of our focus has been on our disappointing performance against Wests Tigers and we do not want that to continue," Smith said.


"We want to address it straight away and bounce back, to show our fans and each other that we can recover quickly after a disappointment."


Smith denies that tonight's match is must-win, but realistically Newcastle cannot afford a setback against the Warriors, who have lost all four matches in Australia this season by a combined tally of 168 points to 68.


The enigmatic Aucklanders are 13th on the NRL ladder, and last week's 38-12 drubbing on home turf by the Sydney Roosters suggested they are struggling for form and confidence.


Nonetheless, Newcastle retain a healthy respect for the visitors, who have won four of the previous five clashes between the two teams, including a 26-20 victory at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium in round four.


"The Warriors have got their own set of problems and we've got ours," Smith said.


"Every club tends to have them.


"Last year they lost something like seven games in a row and still made the play-offs. I think there's a message there, not just for them, but for all of us.


"It's kind of how you strike back when you've had a rough patch. Our rough patch was last game against Wests Tigers, and we want to nip that in the bud on Saturday night with a big performance."


Knights captain Danny Buderus was also wary of the unpredictable Warriors.


"They can come out here and probably blow us off the park in 10 minutes," Buderus said. "We can't afford that, so we'll really need to play well to beat the Warriors on Saturday."


Smith said there were no late dramas at training yesterday and Newcastle would be as per program.


[PI9016] The Bulldogs injury woes deepened yesterday with five-eighth Daniel Holdsworth ruled out of tonight's NRL match against Melbourne at Olympic Park with a leg injury.


Holdsworth failed to make the trip south and his absence handed former Penrith and South Sydney halfback Joe Williams his first start with the club.


Williams only joined the club a few weeks ago after gaining a mid-season release from the Panthers.


Holdsworth's injury means the Bulldogs will be without 11 first-team regulars against the defending premiers. AAP
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Herald
 
Running Down The sideline With The Ball In My Hand Im A Mean Mutha Sharkie Im A Port Macquarie Man.
Ohh, fe Fi Fum, Nibble Gobble Chew, Im A Port Macquarie Man Who The Hell Are You

Wounder If Scotty Remembers the words still?
 
well i would prefer to keep Uate and Dureau rather than Sargent (as much as i love the guy). If we loose Sargent we really need to look at resigning Royal or go into the market and get a fairly experienced prop, or even blood a younger one towards the end of the yr.
 
Sarge will go and Royal will be re-signed. Unless the Bulldogs offer him heaps of money which I highly doubt (I say this because I just always imagine him in a dogs jersey! Its weird but I think he would fit their play) Anyway! From that article the other day and interview on the Knights boys his not going anywhere.

Sarge deserves it to be honest, going overseas and getting a big contract. His been a great clubman to the Knights and his only been here for a year and abit.
 
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