Nearly spewed when i read this.Who is this Mitch Jennings ? Mouthpiece apologist for the club obviously.Love it when he mentions the young player development and doesn't connect it to the coaching staff !
PAUL McGregor isn't about to be sacked.
Club chief executive Brian Johnston went out of his way to make that clear to numerous sections of the media last week, including The Mercury.
It'd be one of the all-time great dummies if it proves a smother, but it would take a dramatic shift in current thinking from the club's heavy hitters for him not to see out the season.
Contrary to what some people seem to believe, it's not a media creation. The question's been asked and the answer given.
Results of have been awful of late, losing nine of 11 games - abysmally in two most recent defeats - and would put any coach under pressure.
The anger of fans is understandable but, as Johnston said, the club can't make decisions with that as a sole factor. It has to look dispassionately at all factors at play.
It includes the fact the club simply hasn't had the top four roster it has on paper on the park. You can already hear the mass hum of Twitter thumbs mobilising whenever you make that point but it's a reality.
The stakes in the Jack de Belin saga rose again on Wednesday and the challenge of navigating the lengthy "no-fault stand-down process" is a first for any club to deal with.
The injury toll McGregor has dealt with is also self-evident. Both are clearly contributing, if not determining, factors in the club's current position.
Would they be enough to see an off-contract coach spared the axe? Probably not, but McGregor is signed for the next two seasons. You can debate the merits of the contract extension the club negotiated in April but it's also a reality.
All coaches, McGregor as much as any, know that there's no such things as job security in NRL coaching. Contracts provide a financial safeguard, they don't guarantee you'll keep your job that long.
The Dragons, however, are not in a position to pay out two years of a coaching contract. Paying two coaches - one of them not to coach your side - has hardly proved a smart move elsewhere in the NRL.
You also need to consider the club is also paying de Belin a hefty wage not to play for them this season - not of its own doing - and will continue to do so into 2020.
Making the huge decision of sacking a coach on the run mid-season would serve no purpose, disappointing as the current situation is.
It's obviously not hard to find answers as to where it's gone wrong this season. Where it gets better is tougher to ponder.
It also reveals perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Dragons season. Not one of the club's young crop has produced a truly breakout season.
'Young' is a relative term when you look at the likes of Matt Dufty (23), Luciano Leilua (23), Jacob Host (22), Blake Lawrie (22) and Jai Field (21). None are rookies anymore.
They're of course not to blame for their side's predicament but, amid injuries and unavailability of marquee men, you would have hoped at least one, ideally two or three, jumped up and grabbed their opportunity by the throat.
Lawrie is the only one to have found some measure of consistency. Leilua has shown flashes of his best but was dropped for a game for being late to training.
Dufty has spent time in Canterbury Cup while Field hasn't really given McGregor any headaches when the the likes of Corey Norman and Ben Hunt have returned from Origin injury.
As a whole, they've continued to play like a supporting cast and - harsh as it sounds - like players already contracted for 2020.
The other glaring issue has been in the back five.
McGregor has admittedly struggled to find the right formula in his back three while centres Tim Lafai and Euan Aitken have not been at their best. Aitken's form dip after being in the Origin mix last season has been particularly baffling.
Both have served to highlight how badly the Dragons have missed super-sub Leeson Ah Mau and chief metre-eater Nene Macdonald.
They're areas recruitment chief Ian Millaward will need to look at, despite having little wriggle room in the cap. The salary cap position will also play into any move on McGregor's future.
Frizell, de Belin, James Graham, Host, Lafai, Leilua and Zac Lomax are all off contract next season. Cam McInnes, Paul Vaughan, Norman and Dufty are off-contract the year after.
McGregor has the chance, with you would assume less disruptions, to turn it around with largely the same group he took to the semi-finals last season.
If things don't turn around, the club has much more practical and financial scope for an overhaul in both its coaching and playing ranks next year and into 2021.
A knee-jerk sacking at this stage of a season achieves little, and would come with a hefty price tag. It just doesn't make sense.
URL LINK:
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au...f-tough-questions-best-saved-for-seasons-end/
sign up again.
