Stoic? That’s a joke, right? It’s smugness, not stoicism. He knows he is completely untouchable despite his continuous failures, both by the club (due to his close ties with the chairman and board members) and by the media (due to close friendships with many ex-players from NSW and Aus teams). His answers are either completely nonsensical (“attitude is a by product of belief” - WHAT THE f**k DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!?!) or riddled with excuses and blame shifting to everyone but himself - players, recruitment, injuries, JDB, even fans.I agree with the sentiment about administration..
Yep the Dragons are 0-3 so far. Game 1 was rusty against the Tigers and Benji strangled us in the end to get the win. Game 2 in hot conditions was a great performance for mine but a few "honest" errors in defence (eg Frizell tripping himself backpedalling in defence) that Penrith took advantage of saw them grab a late win. Not so bad a start but when in light of last years' demise it had people sharpening knives.
I truly think it's not just down to Paul McGregor. Despite the blowtorch on him all the time, there's not been even a sniff of any typical "lost the room / senior leadership group" rumblings that come out through the press. He fronted the press conference on his own last week - without his captain - which is generally an honourable sign to take the heat for the situation and protect his men. Bennett is a master of this.
If I were to put it down to something its that we do not have enough true leaders on the field.
The only true leaders we have currently are James Graham (who plays limited minutes noawadays) and Cameron McInness, who's emerged. We lost our other two leaders last year in Widdop and De Belin - both of which came out of the blue. The rest are good soldiers, but a good soldier is wasted if there are no generals to lead them.
So who's to blame if we don't true leaders in the team. Maybe McGregor, Millward, the board.... all of them combined? I don't know....
But whatever people's opinions are of McGregor as a coach, I think he's been absolutely stoic in the press and media, and I respect him for how he's carried himself. I want him to succeed while many want him to fail.
Stoic? That’s a joke, right? It’s smugness, not stoicism. He knows he is completely untouchable despite his continuous failures, both by the club (due to his close ties with the chairman and board members) and by the media (due to close friendships with many ex-players from NSW and Aus teams). His answers are either completely nonsensical (“attitude is a by product of belief” - WHAT THE f**k DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!?!) or riddled with excuses and blame shifting to everyone but himself - players, recruitment, injuries, JDB, even fans.
No, lack of on-field leadership is not our issue. The same way that the issue is not tries from kicks, injuries, JDB being stood down or any other bullshit excuse that been sprouted over the last 6 years to cover up for the McGregors complete inability to coach a football team. THATS the issue. He is a bad coach. That’s the core of it. Every other issue sprouts from that.
He is unable to coach basic skills to first grade footballers.
He is unable to develop raw-talent in young players to a level it needs to be for NRL.
He is unable to develop game plans based on strength of our best players and weakness of the opposition.
He is unable to motivate the team to give their best effort.
He is unable to formulate a simple attacking structure or series of plays to a level that they are useful in a real game situation.
His strategy and game tactics are park football level.
His philosophy for success is stuck in the 90s.
He has created a culture where near enough is good enough - it’s ok to lose, because the opposition just got lucky.
He ignores defence as a teachable and trainable part of the game.
His player selection is based on favouritism and experience instead of ability and form.
He fails in every single aspect of coaching the game of rugby league at a professional level despite being propped up by good players his entire tenure. And after 7 years, it’s bleeding my obviously that he will not pick them up. He is exactly what is wrong with the club, both in a real sense and in a metaphorical, representative-of-jobs-for-the-boys sense.
As long as he is associated with our club in any capacity that doesn’t start with an ‘ex-‘ then we are doomed to languish around the bottom of the ladder.
As long as he is associated with our club in any capacity that doesn’t start with an ‘ex-‘ then we are doomed to languish around the bottom of the ladder.
The Herald can reveal the club is paying $750,000 a season for a coach whose only two wins in the last 15 games have come against the hapless Gold Coast Titans.
Then I Question your understanding of stoicism. The excuses, cliches and blame shifting that fills every press conference or public statement he’s ever made could not be further from stoicism.No it's not a joke.
Then I Question your understanding of stoicism. The excuses, cliches and blame shifting that fills every press conference or public statement he’s ever made could not be further from stoicism.
If I was anything but a St George fan I'd be laughing till I pee myself at that statistic.
Again, if you didn’t specifically say ‘it’s not a joke’ then I’d think you were joking in that assessment.Stoic - according to the Collins dictionary ...
"the quality of experiencing pain or trouble without complaining or showing your emotions"
No I think I understand that pretty well and that describes McGregor to me. Unfortunately following an underperforming football team makes it hard for fans to be the same.
You suggested Smugness...
According to the Collins Dictionary...
"the quality of being smug (= too pleased or satisfied about something)"
Just my opinion, but that couldn't be more inaccurate of the way McGregor has carried himself.
St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor has just two games to avoid the axe as Dragons powerbrokers gear up for the club’s most significant meeting in years when the St George Illawarra board gathers on June 16.
The Herald can reveal the club is paying $750,000 a season for a coach whose only two wins in the last 15 games have come against the hapless Gold Coast Titans.
.........
Some of the obvious names that will be linked to the job include former Dragons players such as Roosters assistant coach Craig Fitzgibbon, former Manly coach Trent Barrett and ex-Newcastle coach Nathan Brown.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/ro...eeks-to-save-750-000-job-20200531-p54y5w.html
I agree with the sentiment about administration..
Yep the Dragons are 0-3 so far. Game 1 was rusty against the Tigers and Benji strangled us in the end to get the win. Game 2 in hot conditions was a great performance for mine but a few "honest" errors in defence (eg Frizell tripping himself backpedalling in defence) that Penrith took advantage of saw them grab a late win. Not so bad a start but when in light of last years' demise it had people sharpening knives.
I truly think it's not just down to Paul McGregor. Despite the blowtorch on him all the time, there's not been even a sniff of any typical "lost the room / senior leadership group" rumblings that come out through the press. He fronted the press conference on his own last week - without his captain - which is generally an honourable sign to take the heat for the situation and protect his men. Bennett is a master of this.
If I were to put it down to something its that we do not have enough true leaders on the field.
The only true leaders we have currently are James Graham (who plays limited minutes noawadays) and Cameron McInness, who's emerged. We lost our other two leaders last year in Widdop and De Belin - both of which came out of the blue. The rest are good soldiers, but a good soldier is wasted if there are no generals to lead them.
So who's to blame if we don't true leaders in the team. Maybe McGregor, Millward, the board.... all of them combined? I don't know....
But whatever people's opinions are of McGregor as a coach, I think he's been absolutely stoic in the press and media, and I respect him for how he's carried himself. I want him to succeed while many want him to fail.
I agree with the sentiment about administration..
Yep the Dragons are 0-3 so far. Game 1 was rusty against the Tigers and Benji strangled us in the end to get the win. Game 2 in hot conditions was a great performance for mine but a few "honest" errors in defence (eg Frizell tripping himself backpedalling in defence) that Penrith took advantage of saw them grab a late win. Not so bad a start but when in light of last years' demise it had people sharpening knives.
I truly think it's not just down to Paul McGregor. Despite the blowtorch on him all the time, there's not been even a sniff of any typical "lost the room / senior leadership group" rumblings that come out through the press. He fronted the press conference on his own last week - without his captain - which is generally an honourable sign to take the heat for the situation and protect his men. Bennett is a master of this.
If I were to put it down to something its that we do not have enough true leaders on the field.
The only true leaders we have currently are James Graham (who plays limited minutes noawadays) and Cameron McInness, who's emerged. We lost our other two leaders last year in Widdop and De Belin - both of which came out of the blue. The rest are good soldiers, but a good soldier is wasted if there are no generals to lead them.
So who's to blame if we don't true leaders in the team. Maybe McGregor, Millward, the board.... all of them combined? I don't know....
But whatever people's opinions are of McGregor as a coach, I think he's been absolutely stoic in the press and media, and I respect him for how he's carried himself. I want him to succeed while many want him to fail.
Again, if you didn’t specifically say ‘it’s not a joke’ then I’d think you were joking in that assessment.
McGregor not complain? I don’t think I’ve seen a single press conference from him where he hasn’t made an excuse, complaint or justification for poor performance of some sort, and none of them have identified him as an issue - it’s ref decision, poor possession, dropped balls, tries from kicks, JDB court case, injuries, players not having enough passion, or literally any other combination of random buzz words he can string together. The fact that he starts the sentence with ‘it’s not an excuse but...’ doesn’t mean he’s not making excuses. That sure as hell ain’t stoicism, especially by the Collins dictionary definition.
That’s before you get to the big noting of minor achievements. Did you know that prior to the 2016 season, he made the finals for the first time in 4 years? Because he mentioned it after every loss! And placing 15th last year was no biggie, he was 85 minutes from a grand final the year before.
Smugness is a personal opinion based on the smirks and general dismissiveness of questions like ‘are you concerned about your future’. Plus the aforementioned big-noting of minor achievements. Which actually fit the Collins definition pretty well.
he wasn’t being hourable fronting media alone , it is the new covid rules only the coach goes to the after game presser , the players don’t attend, you may have noticed all post game presses for the round only had the coach
No, McGregor is not the only problem, but from a football point of view he’s definitely the biggest. The playing group has rotated quite significantly and many would argue that it’s improved from a personnel point of view (as a result of recruitment, not development) and yet results haven’t changed on a whole. In fact, last years finish was the worst in JV history and that doesn’t reflect the talent on the park.There’s facts. Seperate to that there’s opinions, beliefs, inference and innuendo. Too many people mix these up. Especially when angry - which a lot of us are now. A lot of what you’ve stated is your opinion, which is valid, but doesn’t make it fact. Eg press conference behaviours, inferring excuses etc.
When it comes down to it I’m as p.... off as they next dragons fan about what’s happening but as I said earlier.. I don’t believe it’s just down to Paul McGregor.
Dragons fans have called for more heads than Henry XIII over the years... eg Young, Smith, Brown, Price, Doust... and when the heads have rolled the mob rejoices... but we have a bad habit of going back into the same old cycle.. and it’s McGregors turn now.. I’m stuffed if I know to break it but it isn’t by just lopping another head and keeping everything else as is in hope things will be better. That’s just a band aid solution to a haemorrhage for mine.
The only time we broke it was getting in Sir Wayne, so maybe that’s the solution. Him or someone else from outside the club.
The future of McGregor may rest on the round 5 game against your sharks.I guess all things are relative from where you sit.
Cause it is funny as from where I sit.
Out coached by Kearney....how is that not hilarious?
Point of view I guess.
You just gave us a win/win situation!!!!The future of McGregor may rest on the round 5 game against your sharks.
Hope the Sharks don’t take a funny point of view and throw the game. I can see how your club might think it would be worthwhile.
I wanted to like your post but then I started crying.You just gave us a win/win situation!!!!
If only we were playing at Win then we'd have the full set!