Sack Griffin

[FlameThrower]

I’m not confident and I can’t see the Dragons sacking Hook. 1. They extended his contract and would need to pay him out, so they will look like idiots, hence need to save face. 2. They have cleared coaching assistants and they will be the fall guys, and give him another chance with new assistants next year. 3. Our squad is hopeless, so he has that excuse, and the Club will give him another year. Like fools we buy more bargain bin buys and pray some of our superstar juniors will come good next year. We can’t attract any big names anyway. This has been recurring theme for over 10 years now, so nothing will change.

 

[since77]

I’m not confident and I can’t see the Dragons sacking Hook. 1. They extended his contract and would need to pay him out, so they will look like idiots, hence need to save face. 2. They have cleared coaching assistants and they will be the fall guys, and give him another chance with new assistants next year. 3. Our squad is hopeless, so he has that excuse, and the Club will give him another year. Like fools we buy more bargain bin buys and pray some of our superstar juniors will come good next year. We can’t attract any big names anyway. This has been recurring theme for over 10 years now, so nothing will change.

We are lucky the Tigers and the Bulldogs have been such laughable basket cases over the last decade otherwise I am sure we would have picked up at least one wooden spoon in the last five years or so. But let’s strap ourselves in for yet another terrible season in 2023 because we all know that at St.George Illawarra, if it’s broke, then the last thing the board will attempt to do is fix it……..

 

[18to87]

We have gotten worse since Mary left. Which boggles the mind really.

I think if your rate the chances of winning a game on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being a sure thing like back in the Bennett days, then Griffin just has us hovering around the 3-6 mark. Whereas with Mary it was all over the place between 1 and 7. So yep, depressing either way.

 

[Draginzaaar]

I dont think so and I think he will likley be sniffing around the Titans , he really only won a comp on the back of JT in my opinion

He also made a GF without JT.

 

[Dragon David]

I did support getting Hook 2 years ago , mainly anyone to get rid of Mary TBH

basically now
no improvement in 2 years
still terrible defence overall , this is why we actually have zero chance of making finals with such a for and against
attack abysmal and boring to watch , good teams pose a threat every play in the attacking half , saints another hit up with no attempt at offload, 1 old play out back tackle 4, crap kick on 5 th generally or the common variation of just being tackled on the last tackle on a nowhere play

old plodders McGuire , Macca , Woods , Mbye none of which would get a game at pretty much any other club brought here and persisted with at detriment of juniors now likely to leave

Hook , extended at beginning of season when no one else would go near him anyway , same excuses as per Mary
it doesn’t stop media or fan noise either way if they aren’t winning

no one wanting come club of any quality

Zero future hope of winning anything under Hook and everyone must know this already , He has never won anything significant before either !

old school plodder game plan , terrible or no defensive patterns and nothing in attack either

Even if they gave Flanagan a go this year and next and if not maybe Ciraldo if he isn’t already going to Dogs the year after ?

This is CEO and boards fault essentially with no light at the end tunnel visible I’m afraid

supporter base will crumble as all older supporters will fade out as no new ones will want to support a team who has made 1 finals appearance in over 10 years

I think I’ll just have to keep watching the 1977, 79 and 2010 wins on rotation so the pain will go away

Mjab, I give you full marks for being able to point out all of the deficiencies and predictions you see with the Dragons as I have the same thoughts.

Hook has to go in my opinion without a doubt and the sooner the better, however, much of our problem is with the players and that more than half of the squad are not worthy of first grade selection, ever again.

Our player strength, or lack of it, can be attributed to Hook's decision to get them - cheap and nasty and over the hill. All at discount prices so you get what you pay for and get what you deserve when doing this. It is like when you go out to buy something and there are a few to choose from, and you buy the cheapest and when you go home you use it and in a few days it breaks down and you check on the thing that it is made overseas.

There are too many bad apples, oranges, pears whatever in our squad of players and overall it impacts on the good ones and the young ones. The good ones and juniors eventually turning out to become close to the rotten ones. Get rid of the rotten ones and see the good ones flourish.

Players like Sloan (who by the way in my opinion prevented us getting to golden point last night when he dropped the bomb for the converted try scored by Graham - 6 points it cost us, so bad), Sullivan, Amone have potential but I think need lots more time to develop and become stronger and injury free (Sullivan - too many injuries for my liking).

We should go all out for Bevan French, but I think Newcastle have him in their sights. We really need to clear the decks of poor coaches, poor players, poor everything.

 

[BLM01]

I’m not confident and I can’t see the Dragons sacking Hook. 1. They extended his contract and would need to pay him out, so they will look like idiots, hence need to save face. 2. They have cleared coaching assistants and they will be the fall guys, and give him another chance with new assistants next year. 3. Our squad is hopeless, so he has that excuse, and the Club will give him another year. Like fools we buy more bargain bin buys and pray some of our superstar juniors will come good next year. We can’t attract any big names anyway. This has been recurring theme for over 10 years now, so nothing will change.

Disagree in part
Part of that payout (they can afford) can be enacted if we miss the 8 this year and especiially I think they have put wheels in motion

 

[Qdf]

Disagree in part
Part of that payout (they can afford) can be enacted if we miss the 8 this year and especiially I think they have put wheels in motion

That's good news.

 

[justadragon]

compare the payout to half full stadiums and less, checkout the crowd that will be there for the dragons/titans game, i'll be surprised if its over 5000. the only thing going for that day might be the NRLW.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

Mjab, I give you full marks for being able to point out all of the deficiencies and predictions you see with the Dragons as I have the same thoughts.

Hook has to go in my opinion without a doubt and the sooner the better, however, much of our problem is with the players and that more than half of the squad are not worthy of first grade selection, ever again.

Our player strength, or lack of it, can be attributed to Hook's decision to get them - cheap and nasty and over the hill. All at discount prices so you get what you pay for and get what you deserve when doing this. It is like when you go out to buy something and there are a few to choose from, and you buy the cheapest and when you go home you use it and in a few days it breaks down and you check on the thing that it is made overseas.

There are too many bad apples, oranges, pears whatever in our squad of players and overall it impacts on the good ones and the young ones. The good ones and juniors eventually turning out to become close to the rotten ones. Get rid of the rotten ones and see the good ones flourish.

Players like Sloan (who by the way in my opinion prevented us getting to golden point last night when he dropped the bomb for the converted try scored by Graham - 6 points it cost us, so bad), Sullivan, Amone have potential but I think need lots more time to develop and become stronger and injury free (Sullivan - too many injuries for my liking).

We should go all out for Bevan French, but I think Newcastle have him in their sights. We really need to clear the decks of poor coaches, poor players, poor everything.

Agree with most of that DD but imo Hook is a selective developer of young talent. He's (rightly) continued to select Amone at 5/8 despite some less than impressive outings- on the basis that he is a talented work in progress. He (wrongly) selected Lomax when he continued to showboat with unnecessary and risky flick passes- and then tried to blame Moga for a try that resulted! He (wrongly) made Sloan the fall guy when the team as a whole was towelled up by the Sharks in a gale and a swamp at WIN, left him languishing for months in KOE- and we wonder why Sloan has no confidence!
Interesting that James Graham was punted from the Dragons when he twice expressed opinions critical of Hook's treatment of Sloan on NRL 360- the second time only last week.

 

[Mojo]

I reckon Archie Roach, Olivia Newton John and Judith Durham must have been Saints supporters.

 

[Dragon David]

I reckon Archie Roach, Olivia Newton John and Judith Durham must have been Saints supporters.

Yes, rest their souls and condolences to family and friends of which they would have had plenty.

 

[merahputih]

With all the turmoil going on at my old club I thought i'd remind you that I'm still around, older and wiser and ready to step up to the plate if the head coach's job comes up. Bring back Dragons Footy!

 

[dannyt]

Will get more of this?

 

[Dragons22]

How Ilias bounced back from early benching against Dragons

Young Rabbitohs halfback Lachlan Ilias has spoken for the first time about being hooked before the half-hour against the Dragons earlier this season, and the recent family loss driving him.

www.watoday.com.au

South Sydney halfback Lachlan Ilias has spoken for the first time about his humiliating first-half substitution against St George Illawarra, and revealed the recent death of his grandfather, Spiros, was driving him even harder to achieve success.
Ilias was sensationally hooked before the half-hour after the Dragons ran out to a 32-0 lead after just 28 minutes back in June, only to bounce back almost immediately and play a key role in the Rabbitohs’ late-season resurgence.

Coach Jason Demetriou said after the loss to the Dragons that Ilias would start in the No.7 jersey the following week, and pointed out he was still only in his first full year of first grade.
“I think he got a bit comfortable for a month there, and he was a bit inconsistent with what he was doing off the field,” Demetriou told the Herald on Tuesday.

“He’s super professional and a brilliant young bloke to coach. It’s not about playing one, two or 10 first-grade games – my job is to make sure Lachie has a career here. He’s handled a bit of adversity now, come back and he’s been outstanding for us.”
Ilias struggled to find the right word to sum up his emotions when given an early, early shower.

“I don’t know if shitty was the right word,” Ilias said with a smile. “Nobody wants to be taken off. I stayed warm that night and was ready to go back on the whole game.
“I met ‘JD’ a couple of days later and he told me about not getting too comfortable, and how the No. 7 jersey was up for grabs for anyone.

“The boys in the NSW Cup are playing really well at the moment. Kodi Nikorima has done what he has done in the NRL, so it was all about making sure I earned my spot each week. It was all really positive.”
Ilias, Cody Walker, Damien Cook and Latrell Mitchell continue to build some much-needed momentum as a spine.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Compare this to how Hook treats our young guys and fails to develop them

 

[justadragon]

With all the turmoil going on at my old club I thought i'd remind you that I'm still around, older and wiser and ready to step up to the plate if the head coach's job comes up. Bring back Dragons Footy!

i think you look comfortable being uncomfortable.

 

[Dragon David]

How Ilias bounced back from early benching against Dragons

Young Rabbitohs halfback Lachlan Ilias has spoken for the first time about being hooked before the half-hour against the Dragons earlier this season, and the recent family loss driving him.

www.watoday.com.au

South Sydney halfback Lachlan Ilias has spoken for the first time about his humiliating first-half substitution against St George Illawarra, and revealed the recent death of his grandfather, Spiros, was driving him even harder to achieve success.
Ilias was sensationally hooked before the half-hour after the Dragons ran out to a 32-0 lead after just 28 minutes back in June, only to bounce back almost immediately and play a key role in the Rabbitohs’ late-season resurgence.

Coach Jason Demetriou said after the loss to the Dragons that Ilias would start in the No.7 jersey the following week, and pointed out he was still only in his first full year of first grade.
“I think he got a bit comfortable for a month there, and he was a bit inconsistent with what he was doing off the field,” Demetriou told the Herald on Tuesday.

“He’s super professional and a brilliant young bloke to coach. It’s not about playing one, two or 10 first-grade games – my job is to make sure Lachie has a career here. He’s handled a bit of adversity now, come back and he’s been outstanding for us.”
Ilias struggled to find the right word to sum up his emotions when given an early, early shower.

“I don’t know if shitty was the right word,” Ilias said with a smile. “Nobody wants to be taken off. I stayed warm that night and was ready to go back on the whole game.
“I met ‘JD’ a couple of days later and he told me about not getting too comfortable, and how the No. 7 jersey was up for grabs for anyone.

“The boys in the NSW Cup are playing really well at the moment. Kodi Nikorima has done what he has done in the NRL, so it was all about making sure I earned my spot each week. It was all really positive.”
Ilias, Cody Walker, Damien Cook and Latrell Mitchell continue to build some much-needed momentum as a spine.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Compare this to how Hook treats our young guys and fails to develop them

Hook knocks the stuffing out of the juniors. He just sticks to the same deadwood of players other than a few that are triers. He hasn't learnt anything from last year even when we were more or less in the same situation. Ben Haran must be backing him though which is sad.

 

[Dragons22]

Hook knocks the stuffing out of the juniors. He just sticks to the same deadwood of players other than a few that are triers. He hasn't learnt anything from last year even when we were more or less in the same situation. Ben Haran must be backing him though which is sad.

Exactly. He has no idea it seems.
Been a while since I watched his excuses conference but I always remember him saying stuff about our young guys, and even Dufty last year, that's something "he needs to work on". Never something 'we' need to work on. Or that they are young guys and will continue to improve. Just shows that he and his coaching staff cannot develop players.
The Hook era is worse than the Mary era.

 

[True_Believer]

Compare this to how Hook treats our young guys and fails to develop them

In what way?

 

[dannyt]

In what way?

Demetriou takes Ilias off against St George because he's having a shocker and, at that stage, the side has is down by almost 30 points in the first half. Demetriou realises the game is gone, and takes the opportunity of shocking the kid out of his comfort zone, and benches him for the rest of the game. The next week, he puts him straight back into the FG, and presumably, has a good long talk about what is required from him. He both teaches him a lesson and shows confidence in him. Ilias has played extremely well ever since.

Hook drops Sloan for a dropped ball against the titans, on a week end where all games were played in shocking conditions where even Tedesco made similar mistakes. He seems to have lost all confidence while playing reserves, and finally gets an opportunity about 10 weeks later with a spot on the bench. He's put on with 10 minutes to go when the game is gone. He gets on for 20 minutes the following week when the game is in the balance, but looks hesitant as if he's lost all confidence.

So you tell me which method teaches a young player a lesson while maintaining their development?

 

[zombiebloodlust]

In what way?

Perhaps how the only member of the 2019 SG Ball winning Illawarra squad that has become a decent first grader is Aaron Schoupp?