Legendary Australian rock band The Divinyls put it perfectly: ”there’s a fine line between pleasure and pain”.
For St George Illawarra Dragons coach Steve Price, truer words could never be spoken.
This Dragons team has been branded everything from morbid to abysmal and everything in between.
Some of the criticism has been warranted and some not so much. But the bottom line is the Dragons were not winning games of rugby league.
Wins are everything in the National Rugby League and whether it’s right or wrong, the buck stops with the coach.
The rollercoaster ride Price has already been on in 2013 would even have the cast of Jackass shaking their heads.
So if we are going to kick Price when the chips are down you have to give him some of the credit for turning St George Illawarra around.
The Dragons themselves would be the first to tell you they were in a dark place. Three straight losses to start the season had supporters baying for blood.
From Kogarah to Figtree you could hear the fans.
‘Jamie Soward isn’t tough enough’, ‘Nathan Fein is too old’ and ‘just who is this Gerard Beale character?’
But all of a sudden, Price and his men have turned it all around. They and they alone have dragged themselves out of this hole they had dug for themselves. And have no doubt, it was one mighty hole.
You have to admire Price for sticking by his players. It doesn’t always finish the way a coach wants it to either. Sometimes the players realise the spot their coach is in and wilt knowing he’s going to take the fall.
So in that regard you have to admire the players themselves for repaying the faith too.
The Dragons made it three wins in a row on Sunday afternoon at the Sydney Cricket Ground with a thrilling 13-12 win over the Wests Tigers. Like so many times before Soward’s boot was the difference.
Tries to Daniel Vidot, Brett Morris and Matt Cooper gave the Dragons a 12-0 lead before a late surge from the Tigers.
The old Dragons would have found a way to lose but after two victories St George Illawarra held their ground and are now 3-3 after six round.
“I always felt we were controlling the game but it was an ugly win,” Price said after the game.
“We have an 11 day turn around now to get ready for ANZAC Day and that will be one hell of a game.”
Just like that we have yet another ANZAC blockbuster between two old rivals.
The Dragons will start underdogs against Sonny Bill Williams and the Sydney Roosters.
We will know after that eighty minutes of football if St George Illawarra really have put those dark old days behind them.
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