Paul McGregor hammers young Dragons after loss to Manly

Dragons coach Paul McGregor has taken a crack at his young brigade of players following a belting at the hands of Manly that has the side’s finals hopes in tatters.

The Dragons’ finals hopes are in tatters. Picture: Cameron Spencer

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St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor has accused his younger players of looking for the easy way out in matches, while also conceding his Dragons must now win seven of 11 games to make the NRL playoffs.

Among the NRL favourites at the start of 2019, the Dragons now sit 13th after losing six of their past seven.

And worse according to McGregor, is how the Red V have dropped them.

The Dragons’ finals hopes are in tatters. Picture: Cameron Spencer

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Despite working to an eight-zip lead after 20 minutes on Sunday afternoon against Manly, thanks largely to the powerhouse efforts of NSW Origin forwards Tyson Frizell and Paul Vaughan, the Dragons then conceded 34 straight points before crossing for a late consolation try.

Afterwards McGregor conceded the loss of hooker Cam McInnes (HIA) after 22 minutes had undoubtedly hurt his side, especially given they were already missing Gareth Widdop, James Graham, Jack de Belin, Tim Lafai and Zac Lomax.

However the coach was quick to put the onus back on his own squad, with particular emphasis on the younger Dragons, saying “we were out worked and overpowered”

Manly proved too strong for the Dragons. Picture: Cameron Spencer

“We don’t want to work hard enough,” McGregor said. “We want the easy before the hard and you just can’t do that.

“It’s not good enough.

“When you’re playing in a (Dragons) jumper, when you’re in the 17, you have got to want the hard stuff - consistently.

“It doesn’t matter if they (the players) are young or old ... you’ve got to want the hard first.”

McGregor later continued: “When your opposition plays the power game, you have to take them to defensive fatigue.

“And we didn’t do that at all in the second half. Didn’t put them under any fatigue whatsoever.

“I thought our starting middle (forwards) really dominated the middle third of the field.

“And on the back of that we generated play-the-ball speed. Played on the front foot.

Paul Vaughan had a big game for the visitors. Picture: Joel Carrett

“But I don’t think our interchange came on and did that which made a difference.”

The coach also conceded his side was reaching something of ‘Code Red’ when it came to their chances of an NRL finals berth.

Asked if things were getting a tad, err, urgent, McGregor said: “Yeah it is.

“Every time you lose it makes the next game more important. And we understand that.

“We came here to win and we didn’t.

“So many games are left now ... eleven? So we have to win seven of eleven.”

According to the Fox Sports Lab, Vaughan churned through 159m and 29 tackles, while Frizell also made 125m, three tackle busts and 26 tackles.

Yet the Blues pairing were the only Dragons players to run for triple figures while, in comparison, the Sea Eagles had five forwards break the 100m mark.

Asked about the side’s ongoing injury concerns, McGregor added:”Unfortunately the footy gods haven’t been kind to us from before a ball was kicked.

“But we have to desal with that

“I always say to the younger guys it’s a real opportunity to see what we’ve got. But at the moment what I’m seeing, for all of us, isn’t good enough.

“Including the staff and coaches. We have to do better, educate better so they can perform better.”

Originally published as Paul McGregor hammers young Dragons after loss to Manly