Personally, I am not that bent out of shape about Dykes going as a player. I have always thought that over time the brilliant things he does are pretty much matched to slightly outwieghed by the brainsnaps. No doubting his effort though. If Vags would play every week like he did in the Drags semi he'll do me for 5/8.
I also seem to recall a few years back suggestions that Dykes himself was the source of a few tensions in the camp even in the pre-Kimmorley/Ope-a-Dope era. No idea if there was substance to that but I do recall the chat.
If he is going because of widespread tension which seems to be the debate here, then that is really the problem IMO, less so the player loss.
Article in today's SMH is interesting on leadership stuff at the Drags (see below). Seems like they had the balls to recognise they had issues in leadership and did something about them whereas you get the feeling that stuff festers at the Sharks these days.
Of course, when you are winning everything is sweet with leadership, when you are not it's one of the first pressure points. Just ask Ricky Ponting.
Dragons' change in direction
September 22, 2005
After a few years in the wilderness, the Dragons have found salvation in the kick chase, writes Brad Walter.
By his own admission, St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown was never a great captain. "I was good at building team spirit and that sort of stuff but I wasn't what I would call a good leader," he says.
In fact Brown believes the joint venture club - largely under his reigns as skipper in 2000 and coach since 2003 - has been a leaderless ship. Until now.
Boasting one of the most talented rosters in the NRL, the Dragons had before this season consistently fallen short of expectations and for that 32-year-old Brown blames immaturity - not only his players', but his own.
While injuries have been another factor, the comments by Brown as the club edges closer to premiership glory should be viewed with encouragement by long-suffering fans who have despaired at how their side could perform so brilliantly on occasions yet often appear to be on the verge of self-destruction.
"When we were just St George, before we merged, I was lucky to have blokes like Mark Coyne, Graeme Bradley, Scott Gourley, Jeff Hardy and David Barnhill to look up to, who I thought were good leaders," he says.
"Then, when those guys peeled away, I probably forgot about leadership, and when we merged I reckon for three or four years we were probably leaderless because a lot of people hadn't been taught how to lead properly.
"I'm not going to be critical of any past players but there were different people who had bad influences from both clubs when we merged. They were thought of highly by the different organisations but at the end of the day they didn't have the right discipline to bring on young people like the Trent Barretts and Mark Gasniers, who are our leaders now."
Barrett, 27, was appointed skipper by Andrew Farrar in 2002, ending the co-captaincy policy adopted for the first three years of the joint venture in which Coyne and Paul McGregor shared the job before Brown and Craig Smith took over.
But like Brown, who was prematurely thrust into the coaching job following Farrar's sacking, it has taken time for the former Test five-eighth to grow into the role.
"I think Trent got the captaincy because he was the best player at the time, not because he was a good captain," Brown says.
"But through maturity Trent has improved a lot and the effect that a good leader can have on a side is enormous. It's just the small things like leading the kick chase - he's putting his hand up to do a lot of the sh*tty things and by doing that he's challenging others. A lot of that comes through maturity and being taught about leadership."
According to Brown, the turning point came through the involvement of leadership guru Ray McLean, who has also worked with the Sydney Swans and NSW Waratahs.
Brown enlisted McLean after the Dragons failed to make the 2003 finals series, and the Ballarat-based founder of Athlete Development Australia attended a meeting of the club's senior players earlier this year in Canberra after the Dragons had failed to win their opening four matches of the season.
Breaking their drought in round five against Manly, St George Illawarra lost the following week but won 17 of their next 20, including the past eight in succession - a club record.
"Introducing Ray has been good for us," Brown says. "It's not only helped develop Trent but I've learnt a thousand things as well.
"One thing it has made me realise is that not only is it important to have a good captain but it's important to make sure he has a good support base, and Trent has that behind him. There's a lot of people helping out, like Luke Bailey and Jason Ryles and Ben Hornby, and they've probably matured together and that has had a big effect.
"With that maturity has come discipline and a lot of them realise what it takes to win whereas before, when they were younger, they thought the flamboyance and the brilliance was going to win. That helps but I think they now realise the importance of the smaller things.
"Lance [Thompson], for example, was never a good kick chaser but it's a part of his game that he's good at now, and the younger guys like Ben Creagh are doing those sort of things too because they see guys like him and Shaun Timmins do it."
With Creagh and Ashton Sims just 20-years-old and Dean Young, already earmarked as a future captain, Michael Ennis and Corey Payne all still only 21, the Dragons boast a relatively young team. Brown is confident there is more to come as the leadership group continues to develop.
"Ray McLean said it's definitely a three-year process and I don't think you can underestimate the value of good leadership," Brown says.
"When I first got the job I didn't think that we lacked leadership. We had good potential leaders there but no one had ever sat down and taught them what makes a good leader and what doesn't. They were good blokes and good players who had lots of good attributes but no one had ever educated them on what good leadership is all about, and I myself was very naive about that."
