Having experienced the highs of winning the 2010 grand final to the lows of the past two years, many will say fans complaints over the current state of affairs at St George Illawarra is sour grapes.
I assure you this piece is far from a fan experiencing sour grapes.
Like all clubs face at some point in time, the Dragons are going through a rough patch.
It just so happens this rough patch has been dragging on for close to 18 months now and, as a fan, it’s tough to watch but, as fan, I expect the club to fight its way out of it.
I expect to see ‘my’ club play with purpose, pride and passion.
What I saw the past Sunday against the Raiders was the complete opposite. In fact, I would go as far to say it was the worst performance I have seen since that glorious day back in September 2010.
For me, two things from that performance in the nation’s capital stand out. And for the purpose of this piece, I will refer to the players involved as ‘Player A’ and ‘Player B’. This will become a lot clearer as you read on.
Incident one was just after the Raiders had scored. Jamie Soward placed the ball for the restart, moved in and struck the ball only for the referee to blow his whistle for a penalty.
A Dragons player, Player A in this case, was in front of Soward before the ball had been kicked. He was offside. In fact, Player A was at least a metre in front of the kicker.
Incident two was just after Canberra had knocked on only a metre out from their try line on the fifth tackle. The result, the Dragons ball via a play-the-ball restart.
From the play-the-ball, Player B threw a forward pass from dummy half. Again, another cheap turnover.
The time of the game and the score at the time is irrelevant. The point I’m making is more than just about simple errors.
I refer to the offending players as ‘A’ and ‘B’ as to not discriminate when it comes down to the punishment. It could be the best player in the team or a guy on debut.
The fact is these two plays in particular should not have occurred. We are talking the best of the best. The NRL. The players involved have been playing the game for years. Any one word will not do these errors justice.
These mistakes, at this level, are unforgivable, especially for a club that is already so far behind the top teams in the competition.
Both players should be dropped and for one week should be paid the wages of a park player. No disrespect to those that play park footy but that is where you would expect such errors to occur.
These players must be accountable for their mistakes. I’m not raising my voice on the back of a ‘bad game’. These mistakes were prevalent last season and are now occurring only three rounds in to the 2013 season.
It’s not like they are 20 games into a long season and even then, it would not be good enough.
Many have been calling for the head of coach Steve Price, and on the back of that performance it’s easy to see why.
Let me play devil’s advocate for a second. It’s not the coach who kicks the ball, it’s not the coach who is offside on the kick restart, and it’s not the coach who passes the ball.
You’re right. I ask you this though – do players ‘play’ for their coach? I say yes.
The Warriors are a fine example. Before a ball was even kicked, a few of the Warriors plays voiced their concern on Twitter over the appointment of Matthew Elliot as their new head coach. Not for the fact that it was Elliot, but for fact that some of them wanted former assistant coach Tony Iro as the man to lead them.
The Warriors have now come out this season playing like a busted you know what.
There is no doubt in my mind that a team will put in that extra 10% – the difference between winning and losing – for a coach.
The attention to detail that I’m referring to – that extra 10% – is what the Dragons are severely lacking.
The Dragons are not rebuilding. We bought a ready-made team on the back of the appointment of Wayne Bennett.
He was hired to do one job over a two to three year period and nothing else and he did that. At no stage was the club planning long term. He did was he was paid to do. The club is now paying the price for that success, pardon the pun.
The club continues to experience issues with recruitment. No player is going to sign for a club that is clearly lacking direction.
A big play for Craig Bellamy and Cooper Cronk failed. Can’t blame them for trying. The way it was handled was poor. Price was publicly left out to dry.
CEO Peter Doust continues to make it clear that the club is still looking at all available options. How Price can continue to coach under these circumstances is beyond me. He is a sitting duck.
Another baffling decision, if it in fact it happens, is the signing of Josh Dugan. The fullback who was sacked from the Raiders only weeks ago for repeated disciplinary issues.
I will be staggered if the club pays $500,000 for a player who clearly has an attitude problem. Not only that, the Dragons aren’t short on quality backs.
Speaking of quality backs and recruitment, let’s talk Gerard Beale – a young kid (22) who came from the Broncos last season looking for a start in the number one jersey.
I acknowledge it will take some time for him to fit in to the structure but for a player desperate to make the number one jersey his own, and for the fact that there is the strong talk linking Dugan to the club, he is not doing enough.
I want to see Beale pushing up in attack. I want to see him running through the defensive line two or three times a set. Supporting the ball carrier.
Even if he doesn’t have the ball passed to him, he must show intent. He must show he wants the ball. If only for the fact the Dragons only seem capable of playing one out football with the odd bit of variance coming from a cut-out pass to the outside backs from inside our own half.
Several occasions on Sunday evening saw the Dragons – from inside their own half – attempt to go around the Raiders defence without much luck. One of the plays saw Jason Nightingale dragged into touch.
I applaud the fact our halves are looking to give our backs early ball but they must be giving the ball to the right type of player for this to be effective. Jason Nightingale is an international, a very good player, one of the Dragons most consistent for the past few seasons but he is hardly the Mark Gasnier type of player who will beat his direct opponent with a ‘shimmy-shimmy-whoosh’.
Admittedly he was only filling in the centres in the particular game, but if we are going to give the ball to the outside backs, I would rather see Brett Morris given more opportunity. He is the one who looks likely with ball in hand.
This all comes back to structure and game plan, which starts with the head coach. It’s clear to see the structure set out is not working and hasn’t been working for a little over a season now.
As Dragons skipper, Ben Creagh stated in the press conference after the most recent loss, “It is only round three – we are lucky that way.”
While he is right, the facts are the Dragons have been dishing up this crap for over a year now.
Soc the Dragon
Guest
So we have pcked the identical team for this weekend with one positional change yet we expet a different result? This will be SSDD! Assistant coach offers advice who knows wheher the head coach listens. It is possible to have a better team with the players available to play first grade but we will never know until we make at least three player changes as well as changing the run on side. Saints are boring and frustrating to watch and fans are critical because they are paasionate. I wouldn't be so angry if the Dragons were entertaining and were beaten by beter teams but they are not entetaining, play exactly the same patterns and make stupid basic mistakes. Someone earlier mentioned thats why Ryles and Barrett left because of the fans. Ryles made so many mistakes and gave away stupid penalties all the time to frustrating to have him in the team. Barrett clearly lifted for rep games, could have been a great player but to inconsistent. Nice guy though.
Arthur fonzarelli.
Guest
Sporting success is cyclical , especially in a competition where equity is legislated . We were up , now we are down .
Bunny Boy Marty
Guest
-- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].
Bunny Boy Marty
Guest
Has to be something wrong back of house. Suggest they were stung by some back ended deals that kicked in after the premiership win and kept them out of the market for good talent. Now they can't attract anyone. Price has to make the finals to be considered next year. A couple more losses and a big turnaround would be required. Players lose belief, then stop responding to the coach. Feel sorry for Coach, but that's NRL. Juniors are solid, but not enough. If they can't turn the recruitment around soon then think a new broom at top would be needed, not that you would expect that in a hurry -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
Steve Folkes must share the blame - he is Price's assistant. Attack has often been touted as the best form of defence. There are no players backing up runners. Passes are one out in 90% of cases. Kicks seem purposefully to go dead in goal - and that means opponents can waddle back for a re-start. Saints opponents have it easy defensively - it leaves plenty in the tank when it comes to their turn to attack. St George lost the ability to score whilst in the oppositions 20 - that was over 2 years ago whilst Bennett was leading the group. Soward had his impressive skills coached out of him. It started one game 2 years ago after he threw a long ball that was intercepted. He hasn't been the same since. Maybe he needs to go back and play a few games of park footy to reignite the childhood flare. St George are boring me to tears at the moment - both Price and Folkes need to let a few players off the leash before its too late.
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
Being offside at the kick off and passing forward out of dummy half simply illustrate the lack of respect the players have for Price. And I don't blame the players for that. Why would they respect their mate and former Jersey Flegg coach (for some of them) in the same way they'd respect Bennett? Price is not at fault here. Nor are the players. Peter Doust is the sole culprit for the mess that the Dragons currently find themselves in. Steve Price was not ready to be an NRL head coach at the time of his appointment. Quite frankly, it's disgraceful on Doust's part because he made the exact same mistake 10 years ago by appointing Nathan Brown as head coach before he was ready (only Brown had half the NSW team at his disposal, and that compensated somewhat for the fact that he wasn't ready to be an NRL coach). It's extremely unfortunate the way Price has been treated because I believe he still has plenty to offer the Dragons as an assistant coach. But I seriously doubt he would choose to stay on as an assistant coach when he eventually gets sacked, which is quite understandable. I think Doust has been negligent throughout this whole mess, and he deserves to get sacked much more than Price does. My prediction: Steve Folkes will be Dragons' head coach within 3 weeks.
Johnny Bracken
Guest
I don't think Soward is good enough anymore, nor is Fien. We just need to pick Drinkwater and give him some time. Mitch Rein was given the chance and he is probably our best player right now. It's such a shame Kyle Stanley was injured, we could have used him this season.
bronco
Guest
"SOWARD the Coward'' and "Run Away CREAGH'' enough said
Bazzio
Roar Guru
Agree with the sticking with the team bit, but there comes a time when heads must roll, especially when player's A, B, & C make the same mistakes over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over
Bazzio
Roar Guru
So what do you reckon Folkes' input is at assistant-coach? Surely Price talks to him about the way things are . . . . .
Bazzio
Roar Guru
Let's not forget player C ~ the one whose right side defence is so woefully poor that he is repositioned infield and covered by player D on the right wing; the one who gets dragged into touch at least once a game; the one who kicks straight to an opposition danger-man and fails to cover his monumental blunder that directly results in a try (converted). Player C has the same consistent record of stupidities as players A & B. The Dragons are also far TOO SLOW ~ both Beale & B Moz have been run down from behind when in the clear in the past 2 games, when for the life of me I thought they were in under the sticks for sure. Jesus wept with me . . . . . .
Charles NSW
Guest
Charles NSW
Guest
As I said from the beginning there are problems for him to overcome. However he was appointed Head Coach and as such he has to be given a go. He lost his 1/2 back through injury at the beginning and has been trying to work out a solution. Give him some slack! Putting pressure on him does nothing but bring him down further.
Charles NSW
Guest
As I said from the beginning there are problems for him to overcome. However he was appointed Head Coach and as such he has to be given a go. He lost his 1/2 back through injury at the beginning and has been trying to work out a solution. Give him some slack! Putting pressure on him does nothing but bring him down further.
shane
Roar Guru
Have another drink Big Time.
Big Time
Guest
All for people venting their frustration but this is to be fair, a short essay on why the Dragons stink. Unfortunately for so many Dragons "supporters" they seem to struggle to take the good with the bad. I am going to stick with them, and know that they will come out the other side at some stage, even if it takes another 30 years. I think Fien makes poor decisions as a halfback. He has a good crack in every game, but is a better hooker then half. I think Soward needs someone with a bit of spark and a good organiser inside of him as he can get lost. Hornby complemented him well. Our ball control has been poor. Its an attitude thing. When you are not going well, you tend to try and push the impossible pass etc and it leads to more mistakes. Whereas when you are going well, these passes tend to stick. Now that is me saying what I feel is wrong (venting frustration), without sticking the boot in. I will stand by my belief that the attitudes of so called fans are why players in the past have left the club.
shane
Roar Guru
Wake up Charles. Price was assistant coach before coming on board as head coach. He has been in charge for two preseasons and judging from the weekends performance I'm comfortable in saying the team has taken a backward step. So the answer to your question is No. Time will not fix the issues Price is currently experiencing.
Charles NSW
Guest
Naturally one gets disappointed when their team is not firing and sacking the coach is often the first iidea to come in mind. However we have to take in mind what is actually happening before we go that far. They do have problems but they are trying. It is the coach's job to fix the problems but he does need more time to do so. The only question we should ask is can he? His team selections shows he is trying to stick with the same team each week so he must feel it can be fixed rather than having to change players.
Wesley from Gundagai
Guest
Big RedV will be lucky to win 5 games this season when they continue to persist with Fien and Soward in the halves. Beale has been a bust also. Jordan Rankin definitely isn't going to save them that's for sure
shane
Roar Guru
"shanebrien, maybe you should coach the Dragons" – Great idea! Best thing you have said all day. “Ohh how quickly so many Dragon “fans” start putting the boot in when the chips are down." - Please. It's a precious world we live in when you can't vent your frustration without being accused of 'sinking the boot in'.