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Ever wanted to address a coach, player or CEO directly? I have. Here is my open letter to St George Illawarra Dragons’ CEO Peter Doust.
Dear Mr Doust,
You are the longest serving CEO in the game and I hate bagging anything to do with my club, but what you have done to the Dragons over the last couple of years is completely unacceptable.
Now before I go on, you must know I’m not just placing the blame on your shoulders even though it might sound like it, but it is sure as heck true that you are the main culprit for the demise of the Dragons over the last couple of years. Surely it is time for you to stand down.
Let us begin way back, almost two years before the massive high the Dragons rode in 2010 to win the NRL premiership – their first in 31 years. At the end of the 2008 season you managed to lure the great Wayne Bennett to the club. Even if you lost Mark Gasnier at that time, Bennett’s signing was still a monumental achievement?
Even if you did manage to bring Wayne Bennett to the club, why on earth did you haggle with him about how many years to sign for? If he wanted five why not give him five? Instead you argued and haggled and made the greatest coach in the game to sign for a shorter amount of time than he wanted to.
That to me, and I’m sure nearly anyone else reading this, makes absolutely zero sense.
The 2010 success certainly distracted from a few issues of your causing. Behind the scenes during that 2010 season you managed to bring Mark Gasnier back to the club. This was the first of a long string of decisions which have hurt the Dragons deeply.
Now I understand as a Dragons fan that the Gasnier name was a huge part of the club and that there was no way he could have played anywhere else. In fact he should never have left in the first place. However, was there a need to pay him so much money over the next couple of years? Why was there a four-year contract if he only played two?
So many questions that seemingly were not thought out by you and whoever else was involved in bringing Gasnier back.
The Gasnier one was a hard situation, but it became a lot harder when salary cap pressures pushed some the best forwards the Dragons had out of the club. Jeremy Smith, Beau Scott and Neville Costigan were forced out while somehow you also let Alex Mckinnon out of the club to follow Wayne Bennett north. With these players went the Dragons size up front and the ability for the Dragons to challenge for the premiership.
So the salary cap pressure eased, Gasnier retired and the new coach Steve Price, a man that Wayne Bennett had recommended to take over at the helm of the Dragons, started his coaching career with a first up win over the Bennett-coached Newcastle Knights. Some of your recruitment decisions over the 2012 and 2013 seasons were questionable. It didn’t seem to matter that we didn’t have a lot of size up front. Nevermind, you still gave Steve Price a new contract.
Price and yourself went out and bought a bunch of new players including Gareth Widdop, Joel Thompson, Dylan Farell, Michael Witt and Sam Williams. Price proclaimed he had the team he wanted to take the Dragons back to the top and you seemed to agree with him. In short it didn’t work, Price was sacked about a year and a half too late and you are quite obviously paying a lot of players in the Dragons roster more than what they are worth. In short re-signing Price was just about the worst thing you have ever done.
Now you have signed Paul McGregor to a three-year deal. Another rookie coach, another long term deal. I am a McGregor fan don’t get me wrong but this better work for the club’s sake and for yours.
Currently the Dragons don’t have all that much size in the forwards and even though the club are rumoured to chase every forward off contract, you can’t seem to land one. Combine this with the fact that three of the club’s favourite sons Brett Morris, Jason Nightingale and Trent Merrin are rumoured to be leaving. Understandably, there is unrest among the clubs fans.
Peter Doust, something has to change at the Dragons, and at the moment it looks like it needs to be you.
Good luck in restoring the Dragons to where they were a few short years ago because if you don’t I can guarantee the calls for your head will only grow louder.
Yours sincerely,
A frustrated Dragons supporter.