As a joint-venture club, St George Illawarra are in danger of winning their first-ever wooden spoon and Richardson says he has a non-negotiable formula for turning a club into a premiership contender.
He said this -
“All good clubs have an ethos built around structure, discipline and communication,” he said.
“They are the three key things.
“If you have those things, you have stability.
“I don’t want to make specific comments about the Dragons board, but the key is getting on and doing your job and you need people in the front office who are strong enough to instil structure, discipline and communication.
“You can run the biggest corporations in Australia but if you don’t understand footy culture, you will struggle.
“I don’t know right now if the Dragons have a real footy way of thinking about things and that’s got nothing to do with money or ability.”
Asked if he would be keen to potentially work with Ryles, Richardson said: “I don’t know much about Jason Ryles, but in my conversations no-one has been critical of Jason.
“They have spoken highly of him as a coach.”
So Richardson can see from a distance where we are lacking and of course we knew these things for so long. Our mob just aren't capable of much are they? They just dither about and are reactive rather than proactive. What a waste and I really and truly cannot see anything great happening. New Coach - so what? We need the Board to be more footy smart so they have to get someone who has the nous and skills to take the Flame Thrower Dragon by the tail and swing it 360 degrees and take charge of all things rugby league.
We can have the Haslers or the Flanagans or the Bellamys or the Ryles etc but there would not be any success unless we have those 3 key elements as stated by Richardson.