Dean Pay parts ways with Bulldogs

The preseason dramas didn’t help Pay either. Not only did he lose two good players in Jayden Okunbor & Corey Harawiea-Narea but that kind of behaviour doesn’t look good for the coach

The bounce in the Dragons fortunes is because McGregor is being marginalised. Flanagan has been given a larger role & team selection has been taken off McGregor & is now decided by committee. McGregor’s days are numbered.

Tip Top Thinking.

Jeepers I hope not. The strong whisper is that along with Mary losing sole selection power, there has been a swap where Flanno now is attacking coach and Mary defensive. This has been on for a couple of weeks and coincides with Dufty's rise and the teams improved attack. One can only hope the powers to be actually know what is going on and Mary is politely thanked for his efforts and not resigned. The transition would be smooth to Flanno (if he wants the gig because there's a rumour that Sharkies want him back) because he's there, not like what Warriors or Dogs have to endure. You guys might have Lafai playing for your and he might have a chip on his shoulder and pull out one of his - once every 8 week - semi blinders. :thumbup:

The Dogs haven't recruited well enough - (Thompson the exception) and haven't improved as players - (Elliot the exception.) Not all Pays fault but life is not fair and he is the fall guy. The board could have stood up and backed Pay more through this transition period- and spelled out that 2020 was rock bottom and 2021 not much better. Instead there was this idea 2021 was the war chest and everything would be solved with buying in talent. But instead recruitment has been almost non-existent/ineffective. Lynne and Hill seem to cast themselves as the ones who got Thompson. But who failed to get Api Kourisau? Is that on Deano? Steve Price? Lynne and Hill again? The focus is on getting a new coach at the moment, but accountability for recruitment failures needs to weeded out too as part of the current re-build.

Haha, yeah look one my worries is that we end up like the Dragons with McGregor. It's obviously a tough balance about not constantly changing coach but also knowing when things just aren't going to improve. Are you worried that the Dragons recent bounce - and you're likely gonna beat us this week, unless the sacked coach effect comes into play - is going to save McGregor? You're suddenly going to be pushing up on the top 8. As a fan, that's obviously better than not but...

I hope so kk. I may be wrong but I think crediting Barrett for the Panthers attack is a bit generous as the Panthers have always had points in them. Eg, in their last 2 yrs they've averaged 21 and 17pts pergame respectively, so far this yr they are on 24pts p/g, granted their wins have been against Easts, Storm and Rabbitohs which wouldn't have happened previously. If anything, credit should go to the defensive coach who is conceeding 7pts less p/g so far. Simple equation for the Panthers, more ball = more points. However, I agree, rarely do they let a coach walk without a decent replacement ready to go. For the Dogs sake, I hope it is a quality coach, if not the rest of this season but from 2021 on.

Hi Nat, Barrett must have finished bargaining and be on his way to Belmore for Dean to have resigned, which means he would surely have been justly compensated. If the Panther attack is due primarily to Barrett will it now become a problem for Ivan Cleary to maintain the standard? Hope not.

I can’t argue with that SourD, all logical and yes – there were areas (e.g. Lewis & a few other players, as well as the team structures) where an improvement was anticipated or should have been delivered after 3 years so I can’t really be too harsh on Dogs. I’m just looking at the big picture, only one team can win so are all the others failures?? And given the disruptions of the year who knows, did he deserve a chance with a better roster? Brownie sure got one or two. And BTW, I’m a Dragon fan and we have our own issues, which fly in the face of my comments above. We are paying the price of too much loyalty to a very ordinary coach. And suddenly off the back of a couple of wins by Flanno the team, they’ll probably offer another extension….

I like Dean Pay, but a 1-8 record is not good enough, especially after getting those wins last year, which promised better days. I feel sorry for him losing those two players earlier this year, and missing out on signing Korosau.

As Paul Keating once said, Can a soufflé rise twice?

You’re a Dogs fan too yeah? So i want to respect what you’ve been seeing out there, but for me i can’t really hear these lines about ‘giving their best on the field’ anymore. We aren’t losing close games, where it’s just our attack failing to score that costs us, anymore. We’re getting run off the field more often than not. By teams like the Cowboys, the Tigers, the Bronx. If it was Pay’s coaching that saw our improved finish to last season, then i wanted to see that follow into this year. I didn’t need us to be top 8 – i would have been happy with top 12ish – but we’ve regressed as a team and individuals aren’t improving as players. And we’re stone cold last. It was Pay’s third year, he was no longer a rookie coach, i think he had to go.

Well, I sincerely hope he didn't walk and leave his entitlements. His assignment was tough from Day 1 but he knew what he was walking into. Let's be honest, whule the cattle may not be there that the other teams have, there are fundamentals in the game and the team didn't really pick up on those. In the previous 2 years, the team played well when they had no table pressure and securing good wins. Pay had to get that same effort from the boys when it counted but couldn't. Not sure Barrett is the answer though, he had a better sqaud at Manly and couldn't come up with the goods.

As Keating once said, if he is the answer it must have been a really dumb question

If it’s Barrett a juiced up roster won’t matter. All he brings to a club is endless excuses and outdoor furniture

So will the Dogs ability to attract players to the club be improved having Trent Barrett as coach? Maybe he can do what Garth Brennan did for the Panthers and take some underperforming overpaid players with him.

Gee, Barrett? I can't imagine that's the right answer. If I was a dog's fan I would take Deano everyday of the week over Trent.

Dean "Pays" the price of inheriting a team of triers. Barrett claims he had to provide his own furniture at Brookvale. Hope the Dogs can offer him at least a chair. With their current roster neither Bellamy or Robbo could squeeze any further juice from The Berries.

Something doesn't sit well with me about all this. I read something somewhere that was attributed to Vince Lombardi on his death bed, though I've never found it since and not in any 'official quote list' of his. It went something like this "I wish I'd never said the darn thing (Winning isn't everything, its the only thing), sure I meant have the goal and desire, but not at the expense of human decency, morals and .. {respect for authority/rules.. or something like that}". Geez, Knights lived with three years of spoons and endless Brown mediocrity, at least the Dogs can be counted on giving close to their best on the field each week. What are they expecting with the next guy? Something significantly better or will he have a better roster?

Everyone laughed, but a week ago, I said it wouldn't be ludicrous to expect Trent Barrett in a top job soon in my part one of waiting in the wings.