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A rejuvenated Benji Marshall is front and centre to St George Illawarra’s plans to return as an NRL finals force in 2015.
As the Dragons fight to retain star forward Trent Merrin beyond next season, coach Paul McGregor has unveiled his blueprint to restore order at the famous club after three years of missing the top eight.
McGregor on Tuesday revealed he personally interviewed every squad member after the Dragons finished 12th in 2014.
The upshot was a cleanout, with McGregor intent on giving the Dragons a fresh start to compliment their plush new facilities at WIN Stadium, which include a state-of-the- art gym, an altitude room and new offices.
While he reluctantly let Test winger Brett Morris go free to join his twin brother Josh at Canterbury, McGregor also actively moved on other players and other staff members.
In key off-field personnel changes, premiership-winning players Ben Hornby and Dean Young have been appointed as assistant coaches, veteran recruitment manager Peter Mulholland has joined the club along with performance manager Cherry Mescia and renowned physiotherapist Liz Steet.
On the field, Marshall remains very much the director with McGregor thrilled to have the one-time world player of the year for a full pre-season after linking with the club midway through 2014 following a short stint in Super Rugby with the Blues.
“He’s a totally different athlete than he was in the middle of last year,” McGregor said.
“He came back with very minimal football, but he finished the back-end of the season very, very good.
“A few people didn’t go with Benji at the back-end of the year, to be honest.
“I thought he was really starting to shape his game at the end of the year.
“Unfortunately we didn’t make the finals so he could really showcase his talent.”
McGregor said Marshall had taken to pre-season training like a rookie and was looking for the former Wests Tigers superstar and attacking trump Josh Dugan to lead the way next year.
“(Benji) knows that he’s not a young man. He needs to show his leadership quality,” the coach said.
“At that age of 29, you can’t be that person that is brilliant but he’s got other people around him who be that brilliant.
“But now and again he can show that and he can lead our team around with his array of skills.
“A lot of our structure is around those skills because you don’t waste two players of that talent.”
McGregor is hopeful of retaining Merrin long term, but admits the NSW State of Origin star’s playing future is out of his hands.
Mulholland last week claimed the joint venture outfit had offered the 25-year-old a record deal for a forward.
Merrin’s manager Wayne Beavis, though, rejected the offer and now the 2010 premiership winner is testing the market, with the Sydney Roosters reportedly interested.
While acknowledging Merrin’s as a sought-after signature and a “fantastic” player, McGregor conceded the decision on whether to stay or go ultimately wasn’t his to make.
“Trent’s got to let his manager do the best for him,” McGregor said.
“I’ve got to let my recruitment manager do the best for the club and I’m very optimistic about the outcome there that it will be positive.
“But, if it’s not, that’s just the way it is.”
Describing Morris as irreplaceable, McGregor said the Dragons had no plans to also cut New Zealand Test winger Jason Nightingale loose next year to free up money in order to keep Merrin.
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