Leading into the 2015 season, the St George Illawarra Dragons are on target to miss the finals for the fourth successive year. Let’s get to the real reasons for their lack of success in recent years.
I believe this club has long had problems and cracks in its hierarchy dating back to the early to mid 2000s, which has been papered over with a premiership in between.
Serious management issues first became apparent at the club when a then rookie Nathan Brown was gifted the head coaching role without any adequate expertise at the tender age of 29, becoming one of the youngest coaches in memorable history.
The club then persisted with Brown at the helm of one of the best rosters in the competition for six years without success, reaching a below par two preliminary finals.
Upon much discontent and parting ways with Brown, Dragons management were extremely lucky to stumble across super coach Wayne Bennett after he had fortuitously become available when leaving Brisbane and reneging on a handshake deal with the Roosters.
Bennett finally harnessed the potential of the club and took it to two minor premierships, a premiership and a world club championship in three years.
For supporters this success washed away all the frustration of the previous six years and seemingly put this proud club back on course for many years to come. But it was a stroke of luck and extremely fortunate for the administration and certain individuals running the club rather than good management.
Bennett was originally wanting a five-year deal, which was denied. So off he went after his contract expired. Job done, thank you, Wayne.
The club then inactively watched on as he handpicked recruits to follow him out the door. Sabotaged from within as enforcers Beau Scott, Jeremy Smith along with Adam Cuthbertson, Alex Mackinnon and Darius Boyd left for Newcastle.
Now coach-less and with a big hole in their roster, retirements of Dean Young, Ben Hornby and Mark Gasnier and others seemingly unwanted and let go has seen the Dragons revert back to the pre-Bennett days of trying an untested rookie coach in an aggressively professional sport.
There is now a theme of untried coaches that can be controlled and manipulated. Steve Price was thrown in the deep end with a job he was never going to survive, especially without the power and authority over the team which was being stringed like a violin from above.
Price, with unrest in the playing ranks and under pressure, isolated key playmaker Jamie Soward and put him on the outer – a State of Origin player and premiership winner two years earlier. A player the team should have been built around, Soward has now moved on to Penrith and singlehandedly dragged them into a preliminary final with a team of similar ability to St George at present.
This has led to two years with a rookie coach and no substantial recruitment or retention. A duo of mediocre halves were brought in along with some fringe first grade forwards of notably modest ‘size’.
Since then, Josh Dugan has been hailed as a major signing, but as good as he is he was sacked from Canberra and signed with Brisbane before misconduct had him looking for a third club in the space of months. Landing at St George as one of only a few clubs interested, again good fortune rather than good recruitment.
Gareth Widdop has turned into a marquee playmaker but was not signed as such coming from a Melbourne team full of stars and merely looking for a club where he could build his own reputation. Benji Marshall was moved on from Wests Tigers and failed in his attempt at rugby, and upon returning to league St George engaged in a bidding war with Cronulla for his services.
It is a sign of how far they have fallen in the short space since Bennett left. Marshall is on considerably big money for a man in his current situation. Amazingly, there is now a salary cap squeeze on a B-grade roster, where and on who has this money been misspent?
For a player of Brett Morris’ ability and standing in the club to be allowed to walk out the door is comical. The once abundant junior stocks St George rely upon is also being neglected. Junior players have been poached heavily in the last few years, promising future stars let go. This could be understandable if there was a strong input into their own recruitment.
Paul McGregor has since been put in charge, again a rookie coach. McGregor may still show he has the makings of a career coach and obviously has potential but it is hard to understand why he was re-signed so soon halfway through last season after taking over as caretaker for Price.
There was up to three months to look for a coach but yet another rookie was signed on a two-year contract well before the search had finished, or even started.
It leaves a lot of questions as to who is making these decisions, why they continue to do so and why they are not held accountable. This leaves me to assume there are deeper issues and factors throughout this club and it does not make for a positive outlook anytime soon.
St George are in for another mediocre year and more will follow until things are changed, starting at the top.
Tricky Ricky
Guest
If Doust and his cronies go the Dragons have a future. If Doust and his cronies stay the downward spiral will continue for this world famous football club.
Craig Watson
Guest
I believe that with Brett Morris it was not about money. It was about playing together with his twin. It was on Doust's watch that Josh Morris was let go to join the Dogs. That was a travesty as I am sure both boys wanted to play out their careers at the Dragons. The problem was exacerbated when a couple of years back Doust failed to lure Josh back home when he came off contract. That,imo, is when the seed for Brett to join his brother was planted. I wonder what their dad, Steve "Slippery" Morris thinks of all this. Mixed feelings. Pleased the boys are together again. Disappointed that it is not at the Dragons.
Craig Watson
Guest
Bringing clever Englishman, Gareth Widdop to the Dragons was one good thing Doust has done during his watch. If he and Marshall can gel into a lethal combination this year, the Dragons will surprise a lot of sides and could well make the finals. Widdop has developed beautifully since doing his apprenticeship at the Storm. Marshall still has ball skills but has lost some pace since his glory days with the Tigers. However, he still throws wayward passes and he is still a speed bump in defense. Good sides will capitalize on these weaknesses. You can bet on that.
Craig Watson
Guest
Charles. Are you aware the reason the Dragons had salary cap troubles and therefor were unable to keep Brett Morris, Jack Bird and probably Merrin? Incompetence by Doust and his board over the Joel Thompson business, and buying of Benji Marshall. That is the reason.
Craig Watson
Guest
The Dragons also have a plethora of back rowers and props. So much valuable salary cap funding has been wasted on several of these blokes that mostly play in the NSW CUP side. Outside of veteran Dan Hunt, Jack De Belin and Merrin, the rest are imo not first grade standard. yet Mary picked them week after week last year and will probably do the same this year. This new bunch of unknown ' big boppers' that have been brought in to add size to the engine room have yet to prove themselves at this level. That is all except "Gorgeous George Rose". With respect George, you have played your best footy.
Charles NSW
Guest
I am sorry but I do not agree with your comments Craig although some points may be valid. The fact is if you do not have the money than your hands are tied. The money needed to keep Morris and Merrin was far more then this club was able to offer, it is simple as that. There are players like you said that should not have gone but did so for whatever reason.You have to look at why on their merits of why they had to go! The problem for all clubs is to shop wisely and have players groomed to take their place when needed. Spend a lot of money on a winger when you are crying out for good forwards would not make sense as an example.
Craig Watson
Guest
Gotta agree Walter. If there is one position the Dragons have an abundance of it is the centres. Why they bought Farrell and Dane Nielsen when they already have three fine players in Euen Aitken, Mata'utia and Charlie Runciman, is beyond me. Yet another pearl of wisdom by Doust and his band of board incompetents.
Craig Watson
Guest
I just want to say that we can blame the present Dragon dilemma on one man... incompetent CEO Peter Doust. I started the Oust Doust Campaign on social media. A dragon supporter for most of my life I and thousands of disgruntled supporters of this famous club, are demanding Doust and his band of incompetents on the board step down immediately. Doust . Listen loud and clear. "WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!!!. On his watch at the Dragon's helm. some of the finest players to ever wear the Red V have been forced out. Names like Brad McKay, Lance Thompson, Jason Ryles, Bull Bailey, Mark Gasnier, Josh Morris. All local juniors. All loyal and blokes who would sweat blood for this club. This year we have lost favorite son and arguably the world's best winger, Brett Morris, young gun Jack Bird and now Trent Merrin. This bloke has been at the club since he was sixteen. Now he has been forced out because Doust was not prepared to pay him what other clubs were. Our Oust Doust campaign should now go into overdrive. Saturate Doust with tweets and emails and step up those protests outside the Taj Mahal. This inept administrator of our famous club MUST GO!!!!
Devout Saint
Guest
good post.
Birdy
Guest
Pot stirrer , agree with you on illawarras talent. You don't have to google to know that every year since league started that Illawarras juniors could have formed their own team and featured in all the finals since 1908 . For that talent to suddenly dry up can only be blamed on the JV with St George . (The word neglect comes to mind) And while talking about Illawarra the big 3 were Dapto Wests and Port. Now I notice that Port are now in Group 7.what is happening down there?
cotts
Roar Rookie
Oust Doust.
Gus O
Guest
The coach is an Illawarra junior. I hope junior development to be a higher priority under Mary. They need a multi year development plan under a long term coach, and StG supporters need to be told what the plan is and give it a chance to bear fruit. Hard task for him compared to a senior coach like Bennett who can be much more demanding of the board and senior management Recruitment has been adhoc at best, Dugan and Benji were opportunistic rather than strategic. The loss of Smith and Scott was ridiculous, the loss of Morris... I don't have words. I remember when Smith was coach, we didn't have a team of stars but we had a real honest hardworking team ethic. Can't see them in the finals this year. If we accept that Souths, Easts, Canterbury, Cowboys and Melbourne are pretty hot prospects for the finals, then StG has to make the top 3 amongst the rest. If we make the top 8 it will be a successful season. As for the merger, all I hear now is "franchise" instead of club, and "Tigers" instead of Wests or Balmain. I'm sure there are considered commercial principles behind all of this, but it feels like more and more like a bank than a footy club. You know how banks and insurance companies offer discounts for new customers whilst forever bumping up the fees for existing customers. .. that's how it feels to me as clubs and footy becomes corporatised it feels like it is at the expense of tradition and the historic contributions that made the club successful to begin with. One clear way we can honour history and tradition is to focus on junior development. I hope they have Benji and co working overtime with juniors, and I hope they have a coaching development program for junior coaches. The UK Premier League is a brilliant model for skills development for players and coaches.
Walter Penninger
Roar Guru
The Dragons will be in the race this year. Last year the major achievement was getting rid of Price but we still had a poor end to the year. This year we have Benji in form so we have a chance and the soft pack are a year older and we have Rose and O'Brien to add bulk at over 125kg each. McGregor may or may not be the answer as coach and the first test for him will be sorting out the centres which he did not manage last year. I have no idea how he can keep on picking Farrell in the centres when he has Runciman and Mata'utai available.
Pot Stirrer
Guest
Im not a dragons supporter but i feel for them. the current players in the NRL who i know are from the illawarra are Morris Brothers Stanley Brothers Simms Brothers and im sure theres plenty more but put all those blokes back in the dragons and you would have a very competitive side.
John
Guest
Bring back the Steelers
Birdy
Guest
SS even if I limit my comment to everyone I talk to back home family friends and workmates don't approve of the merger and quite occasionally from people on the roar just want the steelers back in their own right it is still only just talk , just like the talk before manly and norths imploded, and now Balmain and Wests. If you ask me about mergers, well I'm a life long Balmain tragic the only club treated humaimly was Newtown , they were given their last rights and know where they stand. The rest ,Norths Balmain Illawarra All still in limbo suffering forced marriages. Or worse waiting for reincarnation.
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
How has the merger failed? When do you ever hear about in-fighting between St George and Illawarra factions a la Wests and Balmain or Manly and Norths? The fact that the author is ignorant and refers to the Dragons as 'St George' is not at all proof that the merger has failed. No one was talking about the merger failing when the Dragons were making the finals pretty much every year from 2004-2011.
Birdy
Guest
Josh. , I grew up in the Illawarra region but have lived in Qld for almost 30 years now.? I still have relivatives down there and they all say the same thing..... The merger has failed.... In your article you never mentioned Illawarra once , which proves my point . Even in the sub conscious mind of the st George supporters they have not accepted the merger either. In fact in my mind all the mergers have failed , they were I'll conceived and hastily thrown together, they had as much chance as the Gold Coast Giants of succeeding ... Well even less. Boy this NRL administration has a lot of cleaning up to do before they look at expansion. And I fully support expansion! What scares me is that some of the replies mention the junior talent is drying up in the gong. If that's true then that is criminal and should only be blamed on the merger. Illawarra and group 7 losing their junior talent depth ...
Joe
Roar Rookie
Don't know about the "Gareth Widdop has turned into a marquee player but was not signed as such..." Widdop was already a great player when he was in Melbourne and St George paid big money for him because of his abilities. HIs 2012 season was one of the best I've seen and he would have rated as one of the best 6's in the comp. Doesn't get the spotlight though as he was in a team of superstars and doesn't play Origin. For comparison after 2012 everyone was talking about Josh Reynolds and how he should be playing Origin but watch the 2012 GF, Widdop easily outpoints Reynolds. Also testament to how good he is, the Storm can't find a replacement for him at 6. The Dragons will go good this year. The spine is solid with Dugan, Marshall, Widdop and Rein. I think Rein will have a great year, he is a really underrated player, he doesn't shirk his tackling duties and his dummy half running is a real strength. I think we will see the best of him this year. Decent outside backs and back rowers but slightly lacking in the props department. I like Nabuli on the wing, he is building a good understanding with Benji and has a serous height advantage at 1.97m...going to be a lot of kicks going his way in attack. He might need to work on his defence though especially with the up/in defence they're employing this year his decision making and timing has to be good.
Charles NSW
Guest
Nathan Brown was very young as a coach and needed time to progress. When Wayne Bennett became the coach he had a side that was knocking on the door for a win, so full credit to Nathan Brown. The only problem was that Nathan did not have the expertise to demand the respect that Wayne Bennett had and why Wayne was able to win on that. Peter Doust followed what Wayne wanted and the reason why Josh Morris was let go. One of the problems the Dragons had was not grooming a halfback to take take over from Ben Hornby when he retired.We always had good forwards over the years but have fallen down up front. In regards to the Dragons performance this year I am for one quite confident they will be in the top eight this year.