GAME ON: Paul McGregor, Wayne Bennett talk overshadows finals effort
By TIM BARROW
July 18, 2014, 5:14 p.m.
Paul McGregor watches over his players during a St George Illawarra Dragons NRL training session at WIN Stadium.
Predictably, the old fault line in St George Illawarra resurfaced this week.
From the moment Dragons board member Sean O'Connor stuck his neck out to support Paul McGregor, in preference to Wayne Bennett, as the club's NRL coach next year, the howls of disapproval came.
The tireless whingers emerged to declare Bennett is the only man for the job, as if his arrival will automatically trigger a return to the utopia of his first stint in charge.
What does it say of the Dragons culture that their supporters refuse to believe one of their own has what it takes to make them a premiership force?
Is this the extent of the Nathan Brown and Steve Price hangover?
Is there only one true messiah capable of returning them to the top of the NRL ladder?
Of course, those who back Bennett are conveniently forgetting the three-year premiership-or-bust agenda has had a significant impact on their fortunes ever since.
They wanted a trophy and they got one - and that's all that matters to them.
Those who yearn for 12 games a year at Kogarah were up in arms about the prospect of an Illawarra great in charge in the coaching box.
O'Connor went out of his way to announce his support of McGregor, an unusual step for a director, who'll usually leave it to chief executive Peter Doust to be the official club mouthpiece.
Bennett's credentials are unquestionable, but when he arrived in Wollongong in November 2008 - axing McGregor as a club trainer - it was at a time when the players needed someone to believe in after years of failure.
Without the likes of Cooper, Gasnier, Hornby and Young, the next generation are not motivated by the disappointment of 2005 and 2006.
Perhaps the heartbreak of being captain of a losing grand final team in 1999 drives McGregor to be the renowned perfectionist he is today.
With a decision expected in the coming days, all McGregor can do is focus on winning to keep St George Illawarra's NRL finals hopes alive.
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FROM Gorden Tallis to Willie Mason, the excuse for Darius Boyd's behaviour during the farcical Channel Seven interview after State of Origin was "he has been burned by the media before".
So if Darius doesn't want to talk, let's talk about Darius.
In January 2009, Boyd spoke openly to the Mercury about moving on from the Broncos and an incident in a Brisbane nightclub, from which assault allegations were dropped and he was fined.
Four months later, this columnist wrote another story based on comments from then Queensland premier Anna Bligh about acceptable community standards, relating to the incident and the state government transport arm's sponsorship of the Broncos.
The story questioned whether Boyd and the others involved should apologise to the woman concerned.
From this, it led to more than five years of carry-on and refusal to talk to the media, including the famous "42 seconds of gibber" interview, as the News Limited headline read.
At the time, Bennett emerged at WIN Stadium to discuss the situation, but at an offer to talk it over with Boyd, the veteran coach fired "he's not interested in your apology".
The response from this columnist to Bennett was: "I'm not here to apologise".
Boyd actually spoke - but only to his former Dragons teammate Wendell Sailor - on Sydney radio about the Brisbane non-interview earlier this month.
"I've had too many run-ins with bad stories. I'm one of the ones that doesn't like it and doesn't take the crap. I know it's part of the game [but] I don't like it and I've had enough of it," he said.
Boyd isn't the only player to have his actions called into question by public officials or the media and he's not the only one to be approached unannounced by a reporter.
Channel Seven's approach to Boyd no doubt stems from rights holder Nine's move to bar its rivals from post-game interviews in the sheds.
Whatever your stance on the role of media, watch Fox Sports News long enough and you'll see elite sportspeople being asked questions in car parks and in front of club headquarters on a range of issues.
Boyd may well privately be a nice bloke, but after five years his problem with the media is his and his alone.
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/...ennett-talk-overshadows-finals-effort/?cs=302
