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After a great start to the season, the Dragons have had only one win in the last five games and next up are the Bulldogs, Eels and Souths.
It was in last year’s ANZAC day match that the Dragons announced a one year extension to Steve Price’s coaching job and they are now reaping what they sowed. Steve Price has failed to get his players to perform on the field as a team and to recognise basic problems with player performance.
The Dragons have two recognised international wingers, Brett Morris and Jason Nightingale, who are both playing in the weekend’s Test match, but this year and last year they have seen little ball apart from kicks. Price has chosen centres who have failed to deliver good ball to the wing. The centres have also been a target of attacking teams, with Nathan Green in particular lost in defence.
Meanwhile, Charly Runciman and Peter Mata’utia have been performing well in the centres in the NSW Cup but are not worthy of consideration by Price. Runciman, in his limited performances last year, demonstrated his ability to deliver good ball to Brett Morris and he was also solid in defence. If Price cannot fix the problem in the centres, the Dragons will have a largely ineffective backline.
Gareth Widdop at five-eighth has been down on form in recent games and certainly does not seem to be playing such a dominant and fluid role in the Dragons’ backline. Perhaps Price, a former five-eighth, has been restricting his natural game as he did with Jamie Soward last year. Soward’s performances for the Panthers this year have clearly demonstrated that Price’s decision to drop him mid-season last year was not well founded and each good game he plays for the Panthers is a kick in the pants for Price.
If you were to say that the Dragons backline is still a work in progress, I would say you were wrong because there is no progress and little sign of Price recognising the problems or working on progress.
Price has to some extent been reliant of Josh Dugan’s return at fullback to lift his backline, but Price has failed to work on the backline properly supporting Dugan and integrating his play with Michael Witt and Widdop.
In the Dragons forwards, it is also hard to see any real progress this season. Although captain Ben Creagh has been playing well now that he is back in the second row and not a makeshift front rower, the forwards have been very disappointing in defence. They are a relatively small pack, but what they lack in size can be made up with enthusiasm, which appears to be lacking. Mike Cooper’s exclusion from the starting team is also difficult to understand, after many good performances.
There is also a lack of Dragons forwards supporting their other forwards in attack so that offloads rarely find a hard-running forward.
The Dragons off-season buys have been a mixed bag. Sam Williams at half failed to impress, prop Matt Groat has not seen the light in NRL, Dylan Farrell only really impressed in his last game and now has a season-ending injury, Michael Witt has tried hard at half but needs more time and will in any event not be a long term solution.
Clearly, Steve Price has been given one chance too many to turn the Dragons around, and if he remains in charge until the end of the season, the Dragons will not only fail to make the eight, they will lose the chance to test other team combinations and new players. On current form, I can see the Dragons winning five of their remaining sixteen games which, with two byes, leaves them on a maximum of 22 points – well out of the eight
If the solution is a mid-season replacement for Price then so be it – it will be some justice for Jamie Soward’s mid-season sacking.
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