It's not the merging that has caused problems, it's the management of the Club. Over many years St George have been one of the leading clubs both on and off the field but in recent times have been stuck in yesteryear with 'old boys club' administrators who just aren't up to the professionalism and progressive demands required to run a successful rugby leagues club of today's era. No longer can we rely on yesterday's reputation together with funding from te pokies to get us through. I've been saying for some time we need a cleanout and replacement of the board, CEO, head coach, recruitment team and football manager with people who are true professionals rather than 'old boys'.
We experienced a glimpse of true professionalism when we hired Bennett as coach and at the same time were reminded of the Club's limitations with regards to savvy administration when Doust declined Bennett's request for a 5 year deal at 750,000 a year and offered him a 3 year deal instead. It's history that during Bennett's final year Doust tried all he could to get Bennett to agree to an extention of his contract at a much larger salary. It's also history now that Bennett signed with Newcastle for a much larger sum than the 750,000 he was on at the Dragons.
For years now the Club has financially been going down hill and many of the recruitment decisions have been greatly influenced by the availability of cash rather than the right player for the job; this is despite the fact that the NRL provide close to 100% of the salary cap.
The fact is that despite the 'superior marketing', 'the brand', 'the organic growth policy' and the numerous other lines of spin, Doust has presided over our Club's financial decline and the Board has supported him along this path. This in itself is reason enough for the clean out.
The merge is not the reason for the decline and I believe the Club would not do any better if the merge was reversed.
