Shane Flanagan has been given a fresh glimpse at the scale of the job at St George Illawarra after the Dragons dished up a Jekyll and Hyde performance in a disappointing home defeat to the Cowboys.
In their first home game of the NRL season at Kogarah, the Dragons suffered a 46-24 loss, conceding 42 points in succession after leading 18-4 after 20 minutes.
The defeat follows a roller-coaster start to Flanagan’s reign at the Red V.
A 28-4 thumping of the Gold Coast in round one hinted brighter times were ahead, but the fact the Dragons backed that up with a 38-0 away loss to the Dolphins showed there remains significant work to do.
Flanagan, whose side host Manly next week, said he may be forced to shake things up.
“That’s something I’ve got to look at,” Flanagan said. “I gave an opportunity (for the players) to have a right of reply. Did we reply? For 40 minutes I’d say we did.
“The second 40 minutes we didn’t.
“It’s something we’ve got to look at as a club, but I’ve also got to trust this group to improve.
“That’s where I’ve got to do my job. We’ll keep chipping away, working hard in the week because there’s a football side there.”
Reuben Cotter is tackled. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
The opening 40 minutes on Saturday was a peek behind the curtain of the potential and, more pressingly, the problems facing the new Dragons coach.
After North Queensland winger Murray Taulagi opened the scoring inside five minutes, the Red V went on a rampage, playing with abandon that left Cowboys defenders grasping at air and had the home crowd on their feet.
In the space of 10 minutes, the Dragons posted 18 points, with want-away winger Zac Lomax scoring their first try before converting his own effort and those of Tyrell Sloan and Kyle Flanagan.
The Dragons could have had another were it not for back-rower Raymond Faitala-Mariner dropping an in-goal grubber cold in the 24th minute when they were leading 18-4.
From there Shane Flanagan’s players displayed all the shortcomings that show why this team will not be in an overnight fix ahead of next week’s meeting with Manly.
Debutant Jesse Marschke was put on report after whacking Chad Townsend high, which gave the Cowboys the platform to send Sam McIntyre over.
Then, Sloan failed to clean up a grubber to the in-goal and powerful North Queensland prop Griffin Neame was on hand to dot the ball down.
On the stroke of halftime, the mercurial Scott Drinkwater crossed and the Cowboys had a 22-18 lead.
The Dragons had a gilt-edged chance to put themselves back on top when they broke down the left and Kyle Flanagan inexplicably grubber-kicked on rather than pop the ball to a supporting Sloan.
Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt was trapped in the in-goal and the Queenslanders were able to regather the drop-out, head up the other end and score through Kulikefu Finefeuiaki.
Lomax fumbled another kick to the in-goal and the mistake did not go unpunished, Tom Dearden, Valentine Holmes and Chad Townsend all crossing to lay the boot into the Dragons.
In total, St George Illawarra conceded 42 consecutive points without reply.
By the time Lomax went in for a consolation try in the 69th minute, a healthy number of Dragons fans had already voted with their feet and made for the exit.
with AAP
Tony
Roar Guru
And Leilua ate all the pies
The Wollongong Ocean
Roar Rookie
My concerns for the Dragons - Sloan’s defence - Blake Lawrie a great 80s prop, but too slow for modern game - lack of squad depth - Ben Hunt’s motivation might go missing again soon - Bird lacks speed at centre
Bernie
Roar Rookie
so, the stuff that they were ok at last season (D) they are now rubbish at, and the stuff that they were crap at last season is now not too bad (A), or at least creating opportunities. Rnd 4 was mentioned by Flanno as the point where a retro view on the early rounds would happen. and Flicka's future ..... what a big game next up against Manly it will be.
danwain
Roar Rookie
Absolutely agree, at the very least I wanted to see a team that was hard to beat, a team that other teams supporters don't want to play. Instead they are rolling over and allowing the opposition to fill their boots. It's happened under multiple coaches now, so it's clear that there is a bit clean out needed in the playing roster. They are a soft touch.
KenW
Roar Rookie
The weirdest thing about the game is that the Dragons could have won 48-46 considering they botched 4 tries with the line wide open. That's not even counting Lomax's tough drop. Their defence though was terrible, and it wasn't just on the try scoring plays, the Cowboys were rolling with ease even from their own 20m. That's the most disappointing part as a Dragons fan, the improvement I was looking for this year was more backbone to the defence. It seemed on the right track too, in the trials and rd1 they did appear to be fitter and more assured in that area.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Most Newcastle supporters think Bennett did as much harm as good , during his time there. Doing nothing with , not caring what happened to the lower grades. Just a money grab & out as soon as he could.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Benny recruited some pretty handy players to the Knights to help them make the finals. He's very good at getting the right players to clubs and he deserves a lot of praise for that as it's the big factor in success.
andrew
Roar Rookie
What is there to say. Complete capitulation after leading early. Flanagan's going to be working overtime trying to fix Saints non existing defence.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
You're right, but I question Bennett being there. He took a pretty average Knights to finals and Brown turned them into total spooners.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Maguire, Sheens , Flannagan and Hasler. All title winning coaches who were going to turn clubs around because they've proven they can coach apparently. Trouble is coaches are largely dependent on cattle. You can throw Bennett into the equation as well. Despite the Dolphins doing better than expected they still had an inferior herd and they still missed the finals.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
What the right royal heck?? I don't think I've witness such a capitulation for a long, long time. Possibly not since September '99 and the infamous flying TV in the sleepy south coast town incident have I seen us have a game in hand only for some
bozo(sorry Bob) wombat to blow it and witness total tools down. Really ticked off, the crowd was poor, people maybe had an inkling after the dismal effort against Dolphins. That's like 70/80 points in 2 games.... Next time, just hook Mariner after his double tosser and send a message to the troops. Of the 5 spooner clubs, only Titans has a better grip on the cursed wood.Dionysus
Roar Rookie
Great result for the Cowboys. Good chance to make the eight the way they are going.
mudchooks
Roar Rookie
I missed the first 20 minutes, what happened to Laybut he was scratched before kickoff? And did Toumololo get injured or just rode the pine, I didn’t spot him the final 60 minutes? Not much can be said about the dragons efforts in the period I watched, the Townsend try one of the softest I’ve seen.