At this point in time, it won't matter who we hire into the head coaching role + support staff.
Our top level management (CEO & Board) seem only focused on the financial performance:
Net profits through the Leagues Clubs from poker machine revenue, selling drinks at the bar and providing meals at the bistro.
Another KPI focus is around retained earnings & equity - unfortunately what this means (at least in the eyes of those currently running the joint) is that there is limited cash & resources that can then be funnelled out into the footballing department, and there is constant year-over-year talk about the leagues clubs continuing to reduce their grants out into the footballing department in favour of retained earnings & equity.
This means that:
It's hard for us to go out there any get the best coaches and support staff available (we can all say that "Bellamy would never come to this rabble + loves the Storm too much etc etc: but put a really big juicy offer in front of him + Frank Ponisi + make sure they have the footballing department resources they need and watch how fast the love for the Melbourne weather changes in favour of South Coast living).
We also can't go out and hire the best staff to help us with recruitment and also those who can influence third party deals through various connections (the whole notion of we're not an attractive prospect because St George/Shire/South Coast is too far away from the bright lights of the Eastern Suburbs is a massive cop out and an excuse which has worn extremely thin with me - again see previous point ... stump up the cash and the resources and watch how fast some highly influential figures want to come and work for us).
Will the new Centre of Excellence bring about improvements in the footballing department? It's too early to say. In saying this as well, why was this not thought about way earlier than what it has been ... given that several other clubs who are enjoying year-over-year success now, i.e. the Panthers, have had their CoE's online & humming like a well oiled machine for a number of years now.
Further to the previous point - I would like to see some analysis of how much the Panthers success has converted into profitability for their leagues club (including the profits for affiliate clubs and businesses). I would be surprised if is considered 'low' rather than 'high'. Apparently, one of the most successful times for the St George Leagues Club was the 2009-2011 period (with respect also to economic conditions at the time).
As has been the case on this forum since the beginning of it's existence, everyone is going to have an opinion on who should be and who shouldn't be coaching us, who should be playing for us and who shouldn't be (and immediately when there is even a sniff that they might not be the right person for the job they're going to be getting called out)... but, as others have been calling out for a long time now as well, the footballing department as a whole very much has it's hands tied - and it's going to take some pretty special people to overcome those limitations being put on them by their 'masters' up top.
So in saying this - we see Sam Burgess, Ben Te'o + Peter Wallace, James Graham, Nathan Fien, Kevin Walters, Brad Arthur, Ben Hornby, Dean Young & Mick Ennis mentioned as potential options in this thread:
While I agree that some of the names mentioned here could bring things we're seemingly lacking around modern game footballing nous (Burgess, Te'o, Wallace), man management (Graham/Fien, Walters, Arthur), and culture (Hornby, again Wallace with his knowledge of the Panthers system)...
I am skeptical as to whether any of these guys could work within the limitations that our upper management currently want to work in with regards to investment & resources being put into the footballing department (a few thoughts below):
Burgess & Te'o have had falling outs both as players and as coaches with their higher ups, same with Kevvie, same with BA. All these guys would be temporary options at best to possibly get the ship pointing back in the right direction (and when I say 'at best' I truly mean that - there is no guarantee things will work for even just this task).
Ben Hornby (most of us are opposed to the old boy route given our years under Mary - but I'm actually far from opposed and he is more likely to work out as a long term option to not only fix the problems now but also create a steady and stable environment going forward) - has done a couple of apprenticeships under Wayne (player and coach), premiership winning captain, spent time in both Dragons and Rabbitohs systems as a junior coach + assistant, done some time as an interim at Souths (to some success as well - as a few of their juniors got runs at the time to which they are now reaping some rewards for it) and would feel comfortable walking back in on his first day knowing the key personnel within the club + footballing department... but much the same as when we courted and were keen on Jason Ryles over Shane Flanagan, Hornby's best chance at success as Dragons Head Coach would be to not sign on the dotted line unless he's given complete autonomy to gut the footballing department and make sure he has a say in who his GM of Football will be + any other critical support staff (of which will require investment and additional resources via grants from the Leagues Club -- i.e. Ben Haran you are the weakest link - and we need people in who understand the modern game).
Peter Wallace (I'd give him equal footing with Hornby in terms of next option for the job - maybe even a little bit ahead) - given what he knows about the Panthers system, you would like to think he would have several thoughts and subsequent demands about what a good footballing department looks like. In similar vein to Hornby, I wouldn't be signing up unless given free reign to gut the footballing department and bring in the staff needed.
One final comment - I actually feel sorry for Shane Flanagan here... as I'm sure, probably more than Price, Mary and Hook, he's actually doing a lot of work and putting in a lot of demand behind the scenes to get more investment & resources in the footballing department, a lot of which is undoubtedly falling on deaf ears, and it's undoubtedly an additional workload which is taking time away from him being able to focus on preparing the team each week.
(we all need to stop and think about this for just a few seconds - like if we change to an interim coach now it may help us to avoid a wooden spoon in 2026... but under the current way our 'leadership team' wishes to manage all club and footballing department affairs - it's not going to get us any closer to being where we need to be which is playing finals year-over-year and competing for the top brass in October)
but I’ll stand by it.
