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Out of all the 11 suggestions above I only disagree with 2,3 & 9. Tiredness, busted is an excuse for mediocrity. So dont buy that. Besides Mcgregor lets the players decide who plays and if they feel allright. So 2 & 3 is the coaches fault. No 9.. we have a great forward back revered by most clubs.
Our forward pack has been dominated for 10 weeks and has hardly made a yard in anger in that time and exactly the same thing happened last year
I'll give you 1. Most teams dont hit peak form in the first half of the year. Now most of them are even most of the bottom 8...except for the Dragons, Manly and Panthers.
Hey- add to the list!
Your missing the point. That is coaching, game plans, playing busted whatever you want to call it..not the individual players. A well coached and drilled forward pack and our pack would be wanted by most coaches and still revered by others at full strength. Basically there aint that many better forward packs in the comp..on paper. Just need a master to lead them.
Not sure what you have been watching but what I see is a forward pack that only dominates early season games due to higher fitness levels and that doesn’t last all season long
Its a fact look at season's gone by under Mary , the team comes out of the boxes the fittest team in the Comp. Their preseason training is gruelling , The are playing their best football they can , but at the wrong end of the season . For me the season was over 7 weeks ago .....
Again missing the point. I dont accept fatigue as a reason as I blame the coaching staff for the teams and our forward packs demise in the back half, not the individuals, who as individuals most are still trying their guts out. The team as a whole are in freefall and thats the coach.
Yes and who is to blame. Mary, Young , HPU..but not the individual forwards who have been coached the same way for 4 years. Why did we have one of the best packs at the start of the year and lauded by the media. Because we are and were good. Players dont forget how to play. Other factors for their demise are out of their control is all I am saying.
Nathan Hopkins/NRL Photos
This is why i ask can they turn it around!
DRAGONS
Under siege Dragons hope honesty session can revive season
Author
Brad Walter Senior Reporter
Timestamp
Tue 28 Aug 2018, 06:43 PM
St George Illawarra players were asked at an honesty session after last Sunday’s 38-0 capitulation to Canterbury to put themselves in Jason Nightingale’s shoes and consider whether they’d be satisfied if that was their final game.
As expected, the answer was a resounding “no”, following a performance described as the worst by any NRL team this season and one which cost the Dragons a top-four finish.
As they returned to training on Tuesday, the players were still stinging from the defeat and felt they had let down Nightingale, who was making his farewell at Kogarah and will not play again unless the Dragons advance deep into the finals.
“We’ve had a few honest conversations already so it is how we respond,” second-rower Tariq Sims said.
The NSW Origin forward said the theme of the discussion had been: “Was that your best effort?”
“Gypsy [Nightingale], that was his last game playing there in a regular round, Jubilee [Oval] is part of the furniture and with Lance [Thompson’s] passing, if that was the last game you ever played would you be happy with that,” Sims said.
“Across the board, it was pretty much ‘no’, so we have got a lot of areas that we need to address.”
Dragons remain stoic despite upset fans
Nightingale will continue training in the hope that his career is not over after being told he would be sidelined for two-to-four weeks with a dislocated elbow.
Centre Euan Aitken hopes to return for the finals after suffering a low-grade hamstring tear against the Bulldogs, while captain Gareth Widdop is also due back from a dislocated shoulder in the play-offs.
The Dragons remain confident they can still be a force in the finals and believe they need to revert to the playing style which saw them lead the Telstra Premiership for the first 16 rounds of the season.
Discipline has become a problem for the team and they were forced to make a mammoth 449 tackles last Sunday, compared to 314 by Canterbury.
“I think we clocked in another record for the most tackles on the weekend so for us to get that is obviously disappointing, but the penalties we are giving away are just childish, schoolboy penalties,” Sims said.
Lock Jack de Belin added: "When you never have any ball and all you are doing is tackling it is pretty hard to find the energy to run hard. When we finally do get it we are gassed and fatigued and can't get a roll on".
He also revealed the Dragons had changed their game plan and defensive structure.
Dragons winger Jason Nightingale farewells the Kogarah faithful.
“I think we are just playing edge to edge football, whereas we need to go back to playing power,” Sims said. “Our strength is our forward pack. That’s what got us the wins earlier in the season.”
De Belin said some players were trying to do too much on their own and admitted his form had been down since Origin after losing 5kg and suffering a sternum injury.
“I haven’t been playing my best footy, and the rest of the team would have to put their hand up to say the same thing,” de Belin said.
However, the Blues stars insisted they had not felt the need for a rest after Origin and told coach Paul McGregor they wanted to continue playing for their club.
“As players. we took it out of ‘Mary’s’ hands and said we wanted to play. I think to a person we just haven’t played up to our standards as representative players.”
De Belin and Sims defended McGregor and halfback Ben Hunt, who have borne the brunt of most criticism for their team’s poor performances since Origin.
“I feel he has done a great job for us and he is in the same boat as me and half the side, we aren’t playing our best and I suppose it is hard when you are the halfback and the focal point of the side and you are obviously not performing, then you cop a lot of criticism,” de Belin said of Hunt.
Sims, who has been defending next to Hunt on the right edge since NSW prop Paul Vaughan was injured four weeks ago, added: “As a back-rower I didn’t do my job on the weekend so to be honest I am pretty dirty on myself."
He also rejected criticism of McGregor.
“He’s one of those coaches who as a player makes you want to play for him,” Sims said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Mary, he was pretty much the reason I came here. To play for a coach such as Mary was too good to knock back.”
https://www.dragons.com.au/news/201...agons-hope-honesty-session-can-revive-season/
Well there it is.
DRAGONS
Under siege Dragons hope honesty session can revive season
Author
Brad Walter Senior Reporter
Timestamp
Tue 28 Aug 2018, 06:43 PM
St George Illawarra players were asked at an honesty session after last Sunday’s 38-0 capitulation to Canterbury to put themselves in Jason Nightingale’s shoes and consider whether they’d be satisfied if that was their final game.
As expected, the answer was a resounding “no”, following a performance described as the worst by any NRL team this season and one which cost the Dragons a top-four finish.
As they returned to training on Tuesday, the players were still stinging from the defeat and felt they had let down Nightingale, who was making his farewell at Kogarah and will not play again unless the Dragons advance deep into the finals.
“We’ve had a few honest conversations already so it is how we respond,” second-rower Tariq Sims said.
The NSW Origin forward said the theme of the discussion had been: “Was that your best effort?”
“Gypsy [Nightingale], that was his last game playing there in a regular round, Jubilee [Oval] is part of the furniture and with Lance [Thompson’s] passing, if that was the last game you ever played would you be happy with that,” Sims said.
“Across the board, it was pretty much ‘no’, so we have got a lot of areas that we need to address.”
Dragons remain stoic despite upset fans
Nightingale will continue training in the hope that his career is not over after being told he would be sidelined for two-to-four weeks with a dislocated elbow.
Centre Euan Aitken hopes to return for the finals after suffering a low-grade hamstring tear against the Bulldogs, while captain Gareth Widdop is also due back from a dislocated shoulder in the play-offs.
The Dragons remain confident they can still be a force in the finals and believe they need to revert to the playing style which saw them lead the Telstra Premiership for the first 16 rounds of the season.
Discipline has become a problem for the team and they were forced to make a mammoth 449 tackles last Sunday, compared to 314 by Canterbury.
“I think we clocked in another record for the most tackles on the weekend so for us to get that is obviously disappointing, but the penalties we are giving away are just childish, schoolboy penalties,” Sims said.
Lock Jack de Belin added: "When you never have any ball and all you are doing is tackling it is pretty hard to find the energy to run hard. When we finally do get it we are gassed and fatigued and can't get a roll on".
He also revealed the Dragons had changed their game plan and defensive structure.
Dragons winger Jason Nightingale farewells the Kogarah faithful.
“I think we are just playing edge to edge football, whereas we need to go back to playing power,” Sims said. “Our strength is our forward pack. That’s what got us the wins earlier in the season.”
De Belin said some players were trying to do too much on their own and admitted his form had been down since Origin after losing 5kg and suffering a sternum injury.
“I haven’t been playing my best footy, and the rest of the team would have to put their hand up to say the same thing,” de Belin said.
However, the Blues stars insisted they had not felt the need for a rest after Origin and told coach Paul McGregor they wanted to continue playing for their club.
“As players. we took it out of ‘Mary’s’ hands and said we wanted to play. I think to a person we just haven’t played up to our standards as representative players.”
De Belin and Sims defended McGregor and halfback Ben Hunt, who have borne the brunt of most criticism for their team’s poor performances since Origin.
“I feel he has done a great job for us and he is in the same boat as me and half the side, we aren’t playing our best and I suppose it is hard when you are the halfback and the focal point of the side and you are obviously not performing, then you cop a lot of criticism,” de Belin said of Hunt.
Sims, who has been defending next to Hunt on the right edge since NSW prop Paul Vaughan was injured four weeks ago, added: “As a back-rower I didn’t do my job on the weekend so to be honest I am pretty dirty on myself."
He also rejected criticism of McGregor.
“He’s one of those coaches who as a player makes you want to play for him,” Sims said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Mary, he was pretty much the reason I came here. To play for a coach such as Mary was too good to knock back.”
https://www.dragons.com.au/news/201...agons-hope-honesty-session-can-revive-season/
They can call it what ever they want session , They are gone ......
