ACCOUNTABILITY
To all of us this is not a foreign concept ,it is part of our daily lives. From our early years as children we do the wrong thing we are disciplined by our parents, at school we misbehave or do the wrong thing we get in trouble. In business or at work, we make mistakes and their are consequences to be paid. This is just life as we all know it. But their is one place where accountability is non-existent and that is at our club.
The lack of accountability permeates throughout the joint. Whether it be the people running the club and their acceptance for sub standard operating of all aspects of the brand St.George Illawarra Dragons. Or the coaching staff, and i just don't mean the McGregor years, I mean just about every year ,excluding the Bennett era, since the joint venture was formed. And the players, who for a long time now would not know the meaning of the word accountability.
I don't want to talk about this as far as the board goes, we all know it's there, you would have to be completely stupid not to know that the people running our club are more interested in infighting between the two sides of the joint venture than making our football team and our brand the best it could possibly be. The rush to re-sign an incompetent coach because he was seen as an "Illawarra boy" is a perfect example of that.
I truly think that it would be best for the club and the brand if we were bought out by a private owner, similar to what happened with Souths. And then the board ,and their pathetic, divisive self interests could be shown the door and the day to day running of the club could be left to the new owner or whoever the new owner deems fit to move the club in the direction that is best for the brand.
Now i come to McGregor...well well well. What do you say about this bloke. For a long time i have always thought that the coach of a Rugby League team can often be unfairly criticised for poor performances, after all they aren't out there making tackles and taking the ball up like the players are but when it comes to this bloke that theory goes out the window.
McGregor, well and truly ,has the blood of the club, the players and the fans on his hands. He's drenched in it. When you talk accountability, the lack of it shown by this pretender towards the playing group over his tenure as head coach is, i believe , a huge reason why for years now we have been perennial underachievers on the field.
McGregor and his refusal to hold players to account for sub standard performances ,as far as team selection goes, really is all you need to talk about to understand why this guy is not head coach material. Best friend material yes, head coach material F**K NO. For years we have seen players who aren't performing to first grade standard continually being selected and once again instilling a zero accountability culture and an attitude that mediocrity is good enough.
We all know who these players are...we've all posted about them so i won't go into details about individuals, but i do want to make special mention of one...Corey Norman. I don't care how much salary cap this guy takes up, i couldn't care less. The fact that for two years this guy has continually put in sub standard performances with virtually no repercussions makes my blood boil. And i know their will be people who will say ''If we drop Norman who will take his place" i'd say to those people, anyone who is willing to put their body on the line and put in 100% effort , because that is something this overpaid, inept , park footballer at best , knows nothing about. To think this guy is getting Gareth Widdop's wage of 800k a year and was brought to the club to fill his shoes is laughable at best and borderline criminal at worst. And yet he continually has been selected in the side. Once again where is the accountability.
The time since McGregor was moved on and Dean Young has taken over has been an interesting one for mine. You would have to say that performances on the field have deteriorated somewhat .I know a lot of people will say it is because Dean can't coach ,and believe me i understand people wanting to eviscerate anyone that had anything to do with McGregor's tenure at the club but i look at it a little differently. I think Dean wanted to make a good impression and win as many games as possible and he probably thought making mass changes was a risk he was not willing to take because his reputation, as far as a coach goes was on the line. He was really on a hiding to nothing anyway because the rot in our team set in long before he was handed the keys five weeks ago.
I believe that a new approach from Young may have rattled a few cages amongst the players. I think he put a few of these players "on blast" for poor performances and these guys who were so used to getting cuddles and kisses from McGregor, this new approach from Dean might have been a shock to the system, and it's seen a few of these players throw the toys out of the cot and spit the dummy and it is showing in their recent performances on the field.
Cam is a classic example i believe. Look at his performance yesterday compared to McGregor's last game in charge...it's chalk and cheese. He was far from the worst player on the field but by his lofty standards you would have to say he was a little off his game. Zac is another one. He was terrific yesterday, but the last few weeks he has been underperforming and i believe this could also be from getting a rocket or two from Young about defensive issues in previous games and him not being use to that coming from a coach. Paul Vaughan was so relaxed in his attitude towards everything that he thought he could just throw Co-vid protocols out the window and go for a coffee for God's sake. And when he was disciplined, which he had to be ,by the club or whoever it was, he was so use to the softly softly approach of McGregor, his form and his attitude has totally gone out the window ever since.
I remember the look on McGregor's face when he was talking about Vaughan and his bubble breach at a press conference. He gave the impression he was disgusted with Vaughan and he would be letting him know about it. I would have loved to have seen that, i bet McGregor dealt with Vaughan by hitting him with the equivalent of a wet lettuce leaf. I really believe that Young realises that this playing group is so stained by the years of zero accountability by McGregor towards our players that he probably thinks a clean break from the club is best for him.
I don't want this to sound like i am a Dean Young supporter for head coach because i certainly am not. I posted several times that he was no chance of getting the job but i do think he was pushing shit uphill from day one because of the effects that the preceding years of inept coaching and man management has had on the group.
Speaking of pushing shit uphill...Good luck Anthony Griffin because mate you are going to need it.
I don't know a lot about him but ,from what i have heard in the media ,he is a ferociously hard taskmaster who excepts nothing but the best from his players and doesn't put up with mediocrity. He is pretty much the exact opposite of the coach we've had for the last seven years. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when the players come back for pre-season and the first one that steps out of line or isn't putting in, gets a rocket up the clacker. I reckon a few of them will end up in the fetal position and good...it might be exactly what this team needs. And to those players that don't like it i say " don't let the door hit you on the way out ".
I just can't emphasize enough how destructive the lack of accountability from the Board, the coach and ultimately the players has been on the club as a whole. It's everywhere throughout the club at all levels and until this changes, things will never truly change. We will continue to be laughed at in the media , seen as easy beats by other teams , as i am sure we are , and we will continue to be confined to the bottom half of the NRL ladder for the foreseeable future.
I want to see the light at the end of the tunnel but it is hard to at the moment when it comes to all aspects of this club i have supported since i was a child. I remember cheering on the Red V with my Dad for many years and he would be rolling in his grave at the moment with the state that the club is in .
I'll never stop supporting this club, it's in my blood literally. I remember being at the SFS in 1993 when we played Brisbane and even though we got beat, the pride and excitement I felt watching the red and whites take the field. And in 2010 watching from home and seeing the red and white army in the stands and the elation I felt at full time. I want to feel that again. But i just hope we start to see changes because it has been very hard to witness the demise of a club and a jersey that has meant so much to me and has so much history behind it.
Stay loyal everyone...but i know this is a silly statement because to us, their will never be another club or another jersey that could hold a candle to the might DRAGONS and the big Red V....
