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Opinion
When the St George Dragons entered the joint venture with Illawarra Steelers way back in 1999, most fans were optimistic about the future. The joint venture would now have access to a much larger junior talent pool, they were financially secure, at least in the short term, and success looked imminent, particularly after they played in the grand final in their first season – but perhaps the less said about that game the better.
Now, looking back across the past 24 years, we find the Dragons with a single premiership to their name in 2010, that ill-fated grand final appearance in 1999 and ten other finals finishes.
Not bad, I hear you say. But it’s nowhere near good enough in my book, particularly when you consider they’ve finished in the top eight just twice in the 11 years since Wayne Bennett last shuffled around Kogarah Oval. This bleak period has been characterised by poor administration, diabolical recruitment and unwarranted loyalty to underperforming coaches. Did I mention poor administration?
The question on the lips of Dragons fans these days is: when will things improve, and when will they see the team once again challenging for a premiership – or even make the finals, for that matter?
The answer, I’m afraid to say, is no time soon, and certainly not in 2023 based on all the evidence. In fact, the way things are shaping up, 2023 could be the joint venture’s worst season yet, and a wooden spoon finish is more than just a possibility.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
With a blinkered coach seemingly heading for the exit door before the year’s out and with a poor quality squad, the Dragons look like they’re in real trouble, particularly in the light of the perhaps permanent loss of first-choice fullback Cody Ramsey, yet another knee injury for utility star Jack Bird, recurring injury doubts surrounding young gun half/hooker Jayden Sullivan, and the real possibility that boom five-eighth Talatau ‘The Hammer’ Amone could be gone for a substantial period of time if not for good.
That leaves the four key spine positions to be filled by captain Ben Hunt, who’ll be 33 years of age any tick of the clock: young gun Tyrell Sloan, who played just four games at fullback last year; utility Moses Mbye, who is best described as a jack of all trades but master of none; Jayden Sullivan, with just seven first-grade starts to his name and some injury doubts; and new addition Jacob Liddle, fresh from his second-string hooker role with last year’s wooden spooners the Wests Tigers.
This line-up will strike more fear into the hearts of Dragons supporters than it will in the opposition. Shut down Hunt and you shut down the Dragons. Perhaps coach Anthony Griffin will have to think outside the square and play Jack Bird at either five-eighth or hooker or put Zac Lomax at either fullback or five-eighth. Both would be desperate measures.
Hang on, did I just have ‘Anthony Griffin’ and ‘think outside the square’ in the same sentence? I must be really losing it.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Just to give you an indication of how desperate things are at the Dragons when we’re talking about the spine, we’ve now learnt that they were (fortunately) unsuccessful in luring Brodie Croft from the English Super League to the club. You remember Brodie – he moved on from the Storm, helped Brisbane to their only wooden spoon in 2020 and won just six games in 26 starts during his time at Red Hill. The Dragons certainly dodged a bullet there.
Looking through the rest of the 2023 squad you find that the Dragons have some decent three-quarters in Mikaele Ravalawa, Lomax, Moses Suli, Tautau Moga and the Feagi twins, but games unfortunately aren’t won in the backs, particularly if they’re not being given the ball with room to work in, and it’s the forward roster that will ring more alarm bells for the Red V faithful.
It’s amazing – after the successful clean-out of junk bond footballing equivalents in Josh McGuire, George Burgess, Daniel Alvaro, Jack Gosiewski and Poasa Faamausili – that penny dreadfuls in Aaron Woods, Billy Burns and Tyrell Fuimaono are still there. To make matters worse, someone thought signing Zane Musgrave was going to be good for team culture and that the team needed another 30-minute-per-game statue in 32-year-old Ben Murdoch-Masila as part of our middle rotation.
All this in a club where former Queensland fringe Origin front-row giant Josh Kerr managed just one starting game last year and a handful off the bench following a 2021 season during which Griffin consistently played him out of position in the second row.
Dragons fans must look on in wonder at fellow bottom-eight dwellers in the Wests Tigers and Canterbury Bulldogs, who presumably have the same money to spend as the Dragons but are actually able to turn recruitment into a positive experience rather than a negative one.
Wests have shaken up their coaching and added four quality forwards to their pack this year while offloading a couple of duds to the Dragons, and Canterbury have ruthlessly built a team from the ground up over the last two years that has a real chance of playing finals football in the very near future. Rest assured, both Wests and Canterbury will finish ahead of the Dragons this year, and Dragons fans shouldn’t be surprised if the club’s next recruitment masterstroke is to sign David Fifita on a multimillion-dollar contract so that Mikaele Ravalawa has someone to talk to way out there on the right wing.
Unfortunately for the Dragons, their on-field woes aren’t being helped by the club’s diabolical management. Craig Young’s resignation as chairman was both welcome and an embarrassment, the decision to extend Anthony Griffin early last year could only be described as bizarre, and whoever is running retention and recruitment at the club needs to go now, along with the genius who came up with the idea of tinkering with the club’s name.
These are dark days indeed for the Dragons, I’m afraid, and I wonder if, like many other clubs before them, they need to hit absolute rock bottom before they are forced to make the changes necessary to once again be a rugby league force.
I suspect that rock bottom may be rushing up towards them much faster than they think, so the optimist in me hopes for better times ahead sooner rather than later – provided they can survive the impact.
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