External pressure not a factor for Dragons: Vaughan
Dragons Den
FOCUS: Dragons prop Paul Vaughan said his side can't let external pressure affect their 2020 campaign. Picture: NRL Photos
Dragons prop Paul Vaughan knows his side will be under enough pressure to start the season without piling it on themselves
Slow starts have rarely been an issue for the club in recent seasons, but a sluggish run out blocks in 2020 will see the blowtorch turned up to maximum.
Coach Paul McGregor will feel the most heat, with his future reportedly on the line, but the playing group can expect its share of scrutiny after a 15th placed finish in 2019.
The Dragons will need to hit the ground running with a draw that sees them face the Eels, Raiders, Roosters, Rabbitohs and Storm - the top five sides from last season - in the opening eight rounds.
None of it is news to Vaughan, but he said his side can't let external pressure drive their campaign.
"[Pressure's] always there, that's the way it is in footy, but as soon as you start listening to the external noise you can get off course pretty quick," Vaughan said.
"I don't think it'll be panic stations straight away if we don't get off to the best start but it's obviously what you want to do. We're pretty well known for starting pretty fast and hard.
"Hopefully we get off to that kind of start and then continue it throughout the year. I think that's the biggest thing, we want to be consistent throughout the whole season.
"We can't have any lulls or lapses where we drop a couple of games through that middle part of the season. If we can get everyone in sync with each other playing that direct powerful game we can play then I think we'll have a really strong year."
A 15th placed finish to last season - the lowest in the joint-venture's history - prompted the club to make wholesale changes to its coaching staff - the most notable being
the addition of former premiership-winning Sharks coach Shane Flanagan.
Having had the same coaching support staff in all his previous three seasons with the club, Vaughan said it's been refreshing to hear some new voices.
"If you look at where we finished, you can't have that happen in back to back years," Vaughan said.
"We've put some things in place to not have the same thing happen again. It's been good, Flanno obviously brings a wealth of experience and everything he says has got a lot of weight behind it.
"He's someone I'm keen to learn off and Shep's [James Shepherd] the same, he's been in a lot of great systems and he brings a different perspective which has been good.
"It always depends on how you look at it but change can be a good thing and I think it's been a positive thing for the club moving forward."
While the coaching staff has a very different look, doubters have not seen enough change in the roster to think the Dragons can climb back into the top eight.
Gareth Widdop has departed for the UK, while
Jack de Belin's availability remains subject to criminal court proceedings that commenced on Monday.
The addition of veteran pair Isaac Luke and Trent Merrin has done little to silence the knockers but Vaughan is adamant it's a roster that can mount a finals charge.
"The spine's strong, you've got two representative halves [Ben Hunt and Corey Norman there], Zac Lomax is a great young player and Cam [McInnes] has been on the brink of rep footy for a couple of years now," Vaughan said.
"The forward pack pretty impressive as well and the boys we've brought in have a wealth of experience. Bully [Luke]was one of the best hookers in the game when he was at Souths.
"He's still so deceptive out of dummy-half and brings another element to the nine there with Cam. Mez had done it all before so he's looking to come back and getting into playing well for the club and the boys.
"I know things just didn't go our way last year but if you look at the roster it's a bloody strong team."
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