NRL 2017 season preview: St George Illawarra Dragons

I have been watching the NRL since 2005, and never before have I seen a team that was more boring to watch than last year’s Red V.

I have also never seen a team get luckier in terms of when they played their opponents than the 2016 Dragons – and they came 11th! This was a team that somehow managed to luck themselves into playing teams when they were at their weakest, and they still sucked and were boring.

What is there to say about the Dragons in 2016 that isn’t obvious? Their attack was bad and their defence was terrible. Every single one of their spine players struggled to create anything despite the work of their forward pack.

They got some wins against decent opponents, but all of those were against injured and representative-affected teams.

But to be fair to the Dragons, they have made a decent amount of transfers, just not necessarily ones that fix their issues. So can they improve in 2017? Will Mary still have a job 12 rounds into the season?

Strengths
You know, I like this Dragon pack in terms of their props and second rowers. Leeson Ah Mau, Paul Vaughan and Russell Packer are all relatively young for first grade props and all of them have proven to have the goods.

In my opinion I think Vaughan is a criminally underrated prop who Canberra should never have let go and is a great buy for this club. Leeson Ah Mau can barge up the field quite well and no matter what you think of Russell Packer, he is that good that all sorts of clubs were chasing him when he was cleared to play.

As for their second row, Tyson Frizell is the best second rower in the game. This might be a controversial choice but he is great.

While Jack De Belin hair may have shocking hair, his development into one of the tougher guys in the NRL has been great. Additionally Luciano Leilua seems like he will make a big impact in the NRL, while Sims and Thompson aren’t going to let the team down.

Weaknesses
So the forward pack of the Dragons is a strength to the team. However I think this spine is terrible, one of the worst I have ever seen.

Gareth Widdop is just another player to add to the ‘Melbourne made this average joe look great’ tally and with Hutchinson being injured all season he isn’t exactly going to have a half that can help him much.

As for their dummy half, well they aren’t any better. He may be a step up from Mitch Rein who could barely pass the ball, but that doesn’t make him any better. He is blander than unbuttered toast.

He can tackle and give acceptable service but he can’t spark attack at all, and when your halves are Gareth Widdop and Josh McCrone or a junior this side will need him to.

Josh Dugan is the best kick returner in the game. He is decent defensively and makes a lot of metres. However, in a side when your halves aren’t good and your dummy-half can’t create you need a fullback that can set up a try.

Fun fact, Dugan got as many try-assists last year as Newcastle won games. He set up a single try in Round 26 and that was it. Amazing.

And that’s the problem. This St George side will score like a fat, World of Warcraft playing neckbeard in the sense that they won’t score at all.

Their attack was the second worst in the league in 2016 and with the loss of Marshall and injury to Hutchinson they have somehow made this worse.

Unless their coach Paul ‘Mary’ McGregor decides to radically change his attacking structure (which he hasn’t for years) then they just won’t be able to win games. A decent defence won’t be able to cut it.

Summary
This is a team with a good forward pack, serviceable backs and a fullback that in the right team could be great. However because their spine is worse than a handicap person’s they will struggle to create point scoring opportunities for the third year in a row.

I can’t see them making the eight unless half of the other teams are caught breaching the salary cap. I can see them finishing as high as 11th again, but even that I doubt. And if they make the finals there is no way they are winning it.

I do think 2018 will be a lot better for this side. If they can keep their forward pack mostly intact with Hunt they might be on their way to getting a decent attack going. But with their current coach that seems to be allergic to seeing his team make exciting plays and their current spine they just can’t to it.

Let’s just hope for Mary’s sake that their opposition don’t score too many tries off of kicks again this year.

2016 finish: 11th

Predicted 2017 finish: 15th

Transfers
Gains: Josh Kerr, Nene Macdonald, Cameron McInnes, Shaun Nona, Paul Vaughan

Losses: Mike Cooper, Sebastine Ikahihifo, Ben Creagh, Benji Marshall, Dylan Farrell, Tom Carr, Mitch Rein, Dunamis Lui, Adam Quinlan

Full-strength team
1. Josh Dugan
2. Jason Nightingale
3. Taane Milne
4. Euan Aitken
5. Nene Macdonald
6. Jai Field
7. Gareth Widdop
8. Paul Vaughan
9. Cameron McInnes
10. Leeson Ah Mau
11. Tyson Frizell
12. Joel Thompson
13. Jack De Belin
14. Russel Packer
15. Luciano Leilua
16. Tariq Sims
17. Siliva Havili