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Sack mcgregor

D

Dragonsteve2

Juniors
Messages
552
Friday, August 14, should be regarded as a momentous day in the history of the St.George-Illawarra Dragons. Accordingly, as a former historian trained to consider all available evidence before calmly presenting a balanced account, I would like to present an objective overview of Mary's tenure (with apologies to Straight Shooter).

First the positives, because there were some. On three separate but too brief occasions, Mary's Dragons were unstoppable. Additionally for those he annointed he had a strong personal relationship. Nine's commentary team added another - his elevation of Cameron McInnes to the captaincy which I won't contest.

Sadly for us on the Forum, the list of negatives runs much deeper. The short bursts of success so reliant on the "power game" and the overuse of star forwards at the expense of intelligent use of the bench were inevitably succeeded by a high injury toll and shockingly long runs of defeats. Five full seasons and two part seasons: take out the three runs of 6-7 successive victories and the W/L rate declines to a miserable low.

His poor bench management is worthy of elaboration but I will mention just two points. The waste of having a back on the bench and his willingness to deploy bench players for only the last five minutes or not at all effectively meant the Dragons' consistently played with 16 against 17 opponents. This also led to very limited involvement of capable players such as Mann and Lomax. Thankfully the latter is young enough to have survived and to be now prospering at the club.

Mary has made it clear that a significant reason for him falling on his sword was losing the right to select his own team. The truth is he proved himself a very poor selector, unable to drop any of the inner sanctum no matter how poor their form. Add to that his preference for experienced players whose abilities were limited rather than inexperienced players with genuine potential. This led to a growing exodus of young talent from the club while there have been well established players who have also left, apparently frustrated by the coach's shortcomings.

Mary's penchant for excuse making helped to undermine the team's drive for success. Never did he confront the fact that the best teams regularly rise above the adversity they face.

In summary, Mary's tenure was to the club's and its fans' detriment. His departure was essential to future success at the club. But it should have come four years early when his shortcomings had been fully exposed.
 
Brutalitops

Brutalitops

Juniors
Messages
2,333
Time to relax guys. Refocus your anger from Mary towards the board. Something important to remember is I don't think Mary believed he was a shit coach, in his mind he was genuinely assisting the club he loves, and I'm happy to move on from the vitriol. What he clearly lacked in coaching ability he had all the hallmarks of a "mentor" who the players clearly benefitted from in that area. Shame about them having no plan to follow!

Ryan Webb so far so good.
 
L

LINESPEED

Juniors
Messages
1,551
Qapm said:
Linespeed,

That may be but I'm happy the initial step has been taken.
Click to expand...

I actually thought he presented as probably the most articulate & forthright coach I’ve listened to in a while TBH.

I mean compared to Bennett, Bellamy & Hasler, the media & Fans got revealing, straight answers that were succinct, transparent & without showmanship.

We’ll see where he goes to from here
- and whether increasing confidence leads to improved selections with an obvious eye to the future.

With more outside experience & runs on the board, he’ll potentially come back to our Club a very good coach.

The selection of Aitken (& the cynic in me smells a lingering mateship factor here) though was, as I’ve said, a lost symbolic & practical opportunity on several fronts IMO.

And it sorely irked me from my obvious ‘juniors selection’ rants

...& I note how many other coaches are now blooding youngsters ( perhaps through necessity in some cases) who are performing very well at the top level

And BTW we might have just changed coaches in time to stifle the loss of another gun junior in Host.

....and there’re a couple of off contract juniors at the end of 2021? that could surely do with some incentivising ASAP?

But, early days,
& we shall see ...

PS
FFS Deano could select the Drover’s at No3 & get more bite ATM


... It won’t be too long Cody & Max
Hang in there

At least The Waterboy nemesis has been put out to pasture.
 
Last edited:
L

LINESPEED

Juniors
Messages
1,551
Dragonslayer said:
Who is this McGregor dude everyone keeps talking about?
Click to expand...

When looking at prospective & available coaches the other night, someone on NRL 360 put McMillionDollarMan into the available Assistant Coach category!

Loved it.

Fall on your incompetent sword Andrew
& take 2 other Illawarra Board members with you
 
Mjab

Mjab

Juniors
Messages
968
LINESPEED said:
When looking at prospective & available coaches the other night, someone on NRL 360 put McMillionDollarMan into the available Assistant Coach category!

Loved it.

Fall on your incompetent sword Andrew
& take 2 other Illawarra Board members with you
Click to expand...
Maybe Bennett with have a 2nd look
 
Dragon David

Dragon David

First Grade
Messages
9,208
Wow. All this hoo ha with Seibold. He hasn't even been at the Broncos for 2 years yet and he gets his marching orders because of poor results amongst possibly other things. Mary has poor results and he manages to go for almost 6 and a half years. Certainly says that the members of the board were asleep during Mary';s tenure or they were bloody ignorant or both. Too much fiddle ars'g around when it could easily have been done no later than the end of 2015.

Who knows, we could have won a premiership from 2016 to now if that tenure ended way back then and we managed to get the coach we are seeking now?
 
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