The clause that threatens to divide Dragons on coaching saga
Andrew Webster
September 7, 2020 — 12.01am
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The simmering tension between St George and Illawarra directors threatens to the drag out the Dragons' coaching saga as Phil Gould broke his silence on the matter and details emerged of how the club botched the signing of Craig Fitzgibbon.
A decision on whether interim coach Dean Young, Anthony Griffin or David Furner has the job seems unlikely when the joint venture's board meets on Monday to discuss last week's round of interviews.
The Sunday Footy Show panel has broken down Sonny Bill Williams' return to the NRL for the Sydney Roosters.
Complicating the matter is a little-known part of the Dragons’ constitution set in stone when St George and Illawarra formed a joint venture in 1998 in the aftermath of Super League.
Just as there needs to be a unanimous vote to change the club’s name, colours and emblem, there must also be universal agreement on the coach.
That means an appointment could be weeks away given the considerable distrust between some St George directors and WIN Corporation appointees, who were installed after Bruce Gordon’s television network bought out Illawarra’s remaining 25 per cent stake in 2018.
The reports coming out of last Thursday's interviews suggests there is a long way to go.
In the eyes of some directors, it is now a race in two between Young and Griffin because they believe Furner interviewed so poorly. Other directors believe Furner is the front-runner after he impressed them with his presentation.
There are also wildly conflicting views about how Griffin performed.
Nobody from the Dragons has contacted Panthers chairman Dave O’Neill nor chief executive Brian Fletcher as part of due diligence on Griffin, who was sacked in August 2018 after losing the support of players, staff and then-general manager of football Phil Gould.
But Gould confirmed Dragons chief executive Ryan Webb recently met with him to discuss his review of the club during the off-season at the urging of former chief executive Brian Johnston.
“I'd told him [Webb] that, in the end, I had not submitted a review document to the club, nor was I going to put my name to any review document, simply because the scope of the review and possible outcomes were, to my mind, extremely limited at that time," Gould said via text.
Opinions vary on how well Anthony Griffin presented when interviewing for the St George Illawarra job.Credit:NRL Photos
“In a meeting with Brian Johnston, Paul McGregor and football manager Ben Haran last year, I told them that unless there were significant changes, I seriously doubted that results would improve, player roster management would only become more difficult, and they were only delaying the inevitable. I gave Ryan my view on what needed to be done for longer-term success.
“He [Webb] did discuss the club’s preferred head coach option going forward. The club was going to pursue this option before considering alternative applicants. It sounded good. It would appear that option is no longer available.
“He mentioned several names as the alternative applicants for the role. He asked for my quick opinion on each, which I provided. However, the focus of his attention was, on pursuing the club’s preferred option.”
The problem for the Dragons is they botched their attempt to sign their preferred option: Roosters assistant coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
The son of inaugural Illawarra coach Allan Fitzgibbon, the 43-year-old last month knocked back a three-year, $2 million approach from the Dragons.
That approach angered Roosters chairman Nick Politis because it was done behind his back.
Having failed at the first attempt, the Dragons then tried to go through the front door with WIN Corp's board appointee Andrew Lancaster meeting with Politis.
Again, they failed.
Fitzgibbon is contracted to the Roosters next year and has assured Politis and coach Trent Robinson he won’t be asking for a release because he is a “man of his word”.
Dean Young made his pitch to coach the Dragons on a full-time basis.Credit:Getty
It was a waste of time because Fitzgibbon has confided in others that he isn’t interested in joining the Dragons in its current state and is loyal to the Roosters.
One Dragons director who will not be voting on the coaching appointment is former St George captain Craig Young, who is abstaining because he is Dean’s father. He also withdrew from discussions surrounding Paul McGregor’s sacking last month because of their close relationship.
He will instead give his proxy to a fellow St George director.
There are plenty of people both inside and outside the Dragons who believe Dean Young is more than capable of doing the job with the right support.
Standing in his way, it seems, is the failing of others.
There is concern among directors about appointing a former player because they have gone to that well three times and failed: Nathan Brown (2003-08) should have won a premiership with the side assembled for him; Steve Price (2012-14) came and went after inheriting the job from Wayne Bennett; and McGregor (2014-20), who was shown considerable loyalty in his last few years.
Young’s cause wasn’t helped by consecutive losses to the Titans and Cowboys, but he surprised directors with his maturity and thoroughness during his interview.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/th...dragons-on-coaching-saga-20200906-p55ssn.html
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