It is too early for suggestions that St George Illawarra coach Steve Price has only six weeks to save his job, but if his players don't show greater commitment in the opening premiership matches, the pressure will mount quickly.
With so much expected of the team after recruiting Gareth Widdop, Sam Williams, Dylan Farrell, Joel Thompson and others to add to the signing of Josh Dugan midway through last season, St George Illawarra were a massive disappointment in their 38-20 Charity Shield defeat to South Sydney.
A hat-trick of late tries may have enabled the Dragons to avoid the record losing margin for a Charity Shield match of 26 points, but it couldn't disguise the problems they had against a Rabbitohs outfit who were simply too big, too strong and too good.
Advertisement
Playing without the new first-choice halves combination of Adam Reynolds and Luke Keary, Souths signalled they would again be serious premiership contenders by racing in seven tries to one to lead by 38-4 at one stage.
In contrast, the view of most of those at WIN Stadium was that the Dragons are in for another long season and the defeat predictably sparked speculation over Price's future, particularly as Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens is understood to be keen on a return to the NRL.
While it will understandably take time for St George Illawarra's new combinations to gel, the Rabbitohs appeared hungrier and more committed than their opponents.
Price and skipper Ben Creagh admitted as much at a post-match news conference where they struggled to hide their disappointment at attacking Souths' line without success for the opening seven minutes and conceding two tries in the first two sets of tackles they had to make.
''I don't think we were committed enough to start the game and that won't be good enough during the season,'' Creagh said. ''We have got a bit of work to do over the next two weeks to get that right and there has to be better commitment from all players across our side in regards to that. We have got some work to do before round one.''
Price added: ''We sort of fell into a bit of a false sense of security there where we had a few sets and we panicked a little bit, we took a number of hit-ups more than we should of but it is a trial and that is what trials are for - to get it right - and we have two weeks to get it right for the Tigers in round one.
''There were some positive signs there but, in saying that, you get a lot of confidence through your defence and we have got a lot of work to do in that regard.''
The positives were the performance of right-edge back-rower Leeson Ah Mau and replacements Adam Quinlan, Peter Mata'utia and Michael Witt, who is in contention to start with Widdop in the halves after providing better direction for the team when he replaced Williams.
But with Price's contract only extended for this year, he will need an improved effort quickly.
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/
