- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Craig Bellamy’s decision to turn his back on a multi-million dollar coaching gig at St George-Illawarra Dragons said a lot. The one-time glamour club has lost its ability to attract the big names of the game.
Bellamy’s decision to stay with premiers Melbourne was not exactly unexpected.
In my opinion, Bellamy would have been either a punter, an ego-maniac or a goose to walk away from a club that boasts half a dozen of the world’s best players to link with a patchwork quilt of an outfit that is likely to struggle to compete with the big guns in 2013.
He wasn’t the first big name to turn down a fat contract with the Dragons. The joint venture club tried unsuccessfully to woo the likes of Cooper Cronk, Michael Jennings, Israel Folau and maybe even Mitchell Pearce to Dragon-land.
Well, money didn’t work. Was it the fact that a relatively low-profile coach, Steve Price, lacks the appeal to prompt a change of clubs for a star player?
Was the recent retirement/exodus/loss of experienced and established stars such as Mark Gasnier, Ben Hornby, Beau Scott, and Dean Young that made St George-Illawarra such an unattractive proposition?
I cannot answer these questions as I am not a player, nor a premiership-winning coach.
What needs urgent attention are a couple of questions aimed squarely at the club’s administration.
Is veteran CEO Peter Doust in the same ball park as some of his opposite numbers in the NRL?
Has this man lost touch with the modern game and, despite some sterling efforts and some serious hopes, are his contract offers going to amount to next-to-zilch in the next two or three seasons?
Is Craig Young the right man to handle the recruiting, negotiating and retention caper?
I do not profess to know the intricate workings – nor the politics of the St George-Illawarra club – which I think should be a perennial challenger for the NRL title, year after year.
The Dragons have a fabulous junior league nursery but consistently fail to attract the class players to complement their up-and coming football talent.
Maybe it really is time to “Oust Doust.”
If you own a racehorse and it repeatedly fails to get the chocolates, you either get a new trainer or a new horse. Or both.
If companies supposedly in the top echelon battle to compete, you take a long, hard look at the guys at the pointy end and you do something to arrest the slide.
Top quality CEOs are not impossible to find. They are out there, just waiting for a shot at the big time, and I think St George-Illawarra need to scoop one up, desperately.
The current regime is just not working and St George-Illawarra is my tip to finish at the tail of the field in 2013.
One must feel sorry for coach Steve Price. His team hasn’t even trialled yet and his boss is on record saying that the search is already on for the right man to handle the joint in 2014. That’s untenable in my view. A farce.
If I am wrong, I will happily cop lots of flak from the red-and-white drinkers – and that’s fair enough. Stick your chin out, it is likely to cop a whack or three.
But if I am bang on the money, what do you think should happen at Dragons HQ in 2014 and beyond?
Is it time to oust Doust and co?
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.