Griffin door about to close: Why Dragons will be slithering back down ladder

There are two types of NRL coaches who haven’t been re-signed coming into the last year of their contract – those that have the full support of the board and those who are going to be punted.

In other words, there is actually only one type. The parting of ways by mutual consent in this scenario is as close as you can get to an inevitability in the unpredictable merry-go-round of NRL coaching.

If a coach hasn’t been re-signed heading into their final season under contract, a board has already made up its mind.

Anthony Griffin kicks off the NRL’s version of mission impossible on Sunday when he tries to turn his Island of Misfit Toys known as St George Illawarra into fire-breathing Dragons. 

Ben Hunt speaks to his team during the Charity Shield thumping in Mudgee. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

After an off-season that you could politely describe as eventful, or more accurately say was a mess, the odds are stacked well and truly against him getting this side into the finals, which in itself may not be enough to save his job and earn a rare final-year extension. 

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Even after getting the mandatory two competition points from the bye in the first round, the Dragons are not in the top eight – they are ninth in the expanded 17-team premiership.

They have a relatively soft schedule to kick off their campaign – local rivals Cronulla in Round 4 is the only 2022 finals team they will face in their first five games, beginning with the Titans at Kogarah on Sunday night. 

Griffin received a boost on Tuesday when the NRL lifted the “no fault stand-down” ban on young five-eighth Junior Amone over his involvement in an alleged assault in the off-season.

However, he will head into the Titans clash without experienced forward Jack de Belin, who has been ruled out with a calf injury. 

Dragons supporters are sick and tired of excuses for more than a decade of under-achievement and, arguably one of the most vocal fan bases in the NRL, they will bombard club management by every means possible if the team cannot show visible signs of improvement.

Since Wayne Bennett guided the joint-venture to their sole premiership trophy in 2010, the Dragons have won a solitary playoff match from three trips to the finals – the 48-18 triumph over Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium in 2018 which turned out to be Bennett’s last game in charge of the Broncos. 

In Griffin’s two years at the helm, he’s won 20 of 48 matches for a 41.7 success rate, the worst record by a full-time coach at St George Illawarra apart from Steve Price’s 39.3% record in the three years following Wayne Bennett’s exit when the ageing premiership-winning roster quickly disintegrated.

After they supposedly bottomed out when they were saved from the embarrassment of their first wooden spoon in 2019 by an inept Gold Coast side, Paul McGregor exited the following year after a 12th-placed finish and Griffin has done marginally better by taking them to 11th and 10th.

There hasn’t been much of a rebuild since he took over, it’s been more a case of bringing in journeymen and cast-offs from other clubs with little development from their young prospects and all signs point to them finishing in the also-rans, probably in the bottom four or five this year.

After the Dolphins shocked the NRL world by beating the Roosters in their inaugural game on Sunday, the Dragons have now been installed alongside Newcastle as the longest shots to win the title at $67 apiece.

Anthony Griffin. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Looking solely on their on-field ability, it’s hard to see how the Dragons improve on last year’s 10th-placed finish. 

Roster wise they have tinkered around the edges by signing fringe first-graders in Wests Tigers duo Zane Musgrove and Jacob Liddle, and late off-season pick-ups in Warriors veteran prop Ben Murdoch-Masila and Titans utility back Paul Turner.

Jackson Ford, whose progress stalled last season, left for the Warriors and is already looking impressive in new colours, while fellow back-rower Jack Gosiewski also looks like he will be a handy signing for the Cowboys after he too fell out of favour at the Dragons, delivering a parting shot on his way out the door by claiming he lost his spot permanently after withdrawing from a match due to complications following the birth of his newborn child. 

Tariq Sims left his home club to see how the other half live in Melbourne, Andrew McCullough retired and Josh McGuire left for the Super League even though Griffin was keen for him to stick around despite possessing one of the worst judiciary records since John Hopoate was befouling the NRL two decades ago.

The fact that McGuire copped a six-match ban for “unacceptable language” termed as disability discrimination towards an opponent in a pre-season game for Warrington is the latest example of grubby behaviour that Griffin somehow kept overlooking due to his relationship with the forward which dated back a decade to their Broncos days. 

Now the dust has settled on an off-season of players not turning up to the presentation night, dopey surveys about a name change, legal matters and scuffles between players at training and after the Charity Shield, the scoreboard will determine Griffin’s fate.

There are holes in the roster left, right and centre.

Ben Hunt is coming off a career-best season and was rewarded with a contract extension until the end of 2025 and the veteran halfback, who turns 33 this month, needs much more help from his support cast.

Their attack was below average last year – 12th for tries scored, 13th in running metres and 10th in line breaks. 

And their defence was even more uninspiring – 15th in line breaks conceded, 10th in points conceded and stone cold motherless last in missed tackles with 902 to be 67 clear of the next-worst team, the Wests Tigers. 

Their pre-season form has done little to calm red and white blood pressure – they lost 30-18 to St Helens in Wollongong which turned out to be not the worst result when the English champs knocked over Penrith the following week but the Dragons were then flogged 42-24 by Souths in the Charity Shield.

The final scoreline flattered St George Illawarra, who trailed 26-0 at half-time before Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou started giving his established stars a rest.

Junior Amone. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)

Hunt’s hopes of dragging the Dragons into the playoffs rest on an unsettled spine, an inconsistent backline and a forward pack which lacks star power.

One of the club’s best young prospects, fullback Tyrell Sloan was well below his best in the Charity Shield loss after he was in and out of first grade last year to such an extent that he requested a release in the off-season.

Ditto for playmaker Jayden Sullivan, who will start the season alongside Hunt in the halves due to Amone’s interrupted build-up. 

The other member of the spine, Liddle, was released by the Tigers after six seasons in first grade plagued by various injuries. Only once – when he played 20 matches in 2021 – has Liddle managed more than 13 matches in a season. He’s been picked to make his debut on the interchange with Moses Mbye listed to start in the No.9 jersey. Instability reigns.

Out wide, centres Moses Suli and Zac Lomax have the ability to be potential representative stars but their hot-and-cold form varies within games let alone from week to week.

In the pack, Jack Bird is the closest thing they’ve got to a star and after playing in the second row last year, he is now looking to nail down lock as his preferred position. 

Jayden Sullivan. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Jaydn Su’A can reel off the occasional big hit and Blake Lawrie is reliable in the middle but the forward rotation is filled with honest toilers rather than anyone who is going to break a game wide open.

It all adds up to a very tough task for a coach who actually has the full support of the board, let alone someone on their last legs as Griffin appears to be.

Then the choice becomes who should take over – with three favourite sons in Jason Ryles, Dean Young and Ben Hornby cutting their coaching teeth elsewhere and looking like they’re ready for an NRL head coaching gig, the Dragons have options. 

There will inevitably be a push for an older coach like Des Hasler or Shane Flanagan to come in and clean up the joint. They tried that last time and it didn’t work. 

They need a fresh start with a coach who can unite the club and transform the team’s reputation with a modern approach like Todd Payten has done at the Cowboys and Craig Fitzgibbon at Cronulla.