NRL: Why South Sydney will be 2023 premiers, who will replace Anthony Griffin at Dragons?
St George Illawarra are a rabble with the players dragging the mighty Red V through the mud, writes Brent Read, a veteran coach is needed to fix this mess.
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How low can the Dragons go? Surely not much further. St George Illawarra are a rabble. They have been awful on the field in the pre-season and woeful off it.
The club needs a reboot and this column isn’t sure it can happen with Anthony Griffin in charge. The players treated him and the club with no respect last weekend, dragging the mighty Red V through the mud.
It has become a recurring theme for the Dragons as they lurch from one PR disaster to the next. Dragons chair Andrew Lancaster addressed the club’s culture in a News Corp interview in the off-season, insisting the club had learned from recent issues.
The board may have, the players clearly haven’t. Their performance against South Sydney was an abomination. They were cut apart through the middle and sliced on the edges.
They looked like wooden spooners. They certainly acted like it when they headed back to the team hotel. While South Sydney jumped straight on a bus and headed back to Sydney, the Dragons went out on the turps and embarrassed themselves.
It says a lot about the gulf in professionalism between the two bitter rivals. Rabbitohs players were fast asleep in their own beds while the Dragons were tearing up the town.
Ultimately, that falls back on the head coach, which explains why the blowtorch has been on Griffin this week. The irony is that amid the talk over his future, numerous pundits have suggested that the Dragons need an experienced coach to take charge.
Wollongong, it goes, is no place for a rookie. Griffin came with a lengthy resume and it seemingly hasn’t helped. If the Dragons do decide to go down the experienced path, three names stand out – premiership winners Shane Flanagan, Michael Maguire and Des Hasler.
Flanagan, now assisting Anthony Seibold at Manly, knows the inner workings of the Dragons.
He has been on their staff in various roles. At one point, as rumours circulated last year over Griffin’s future, it was suggested he would act as an interim until Dean Young was ready to take over.
Maguire, currently helping Ricky Stuart in Canberra, won’t put up with any nonsense. He would tighten up discipline and set the Dragons up until one of the younger coaches is ready.
As for Hasler, there were whispers out of Wollongong this week that his name was already being discussed, if not as the permanent coach than as a caretaker until the club becomes more stable and a younger coach can step into the breach.
Jason Ryles, Ben Hornby and Young have all been mooted as potential successors to Griffin. Hasler has been out of work since his messy departure from Manly, where the club rejected his succession plan to go their own way.
Might be time to dust off that plan Des.
WHY THE RABBITOHS WILL WIN THE PREMIERSHIP IN 2023
The crystal ball caused quite a stir last week. Got us on the front page of the local newspaper in Penrith. Apparently, they weren’t happy that we declared the Panthers dynasty was about to come to an end.
So they ragged out a quote and asked the question: “What will silence them this year”. By them, they meant their critics. This columnist was lumped in with my old mate Paul Kent, who was also given the honour of having one of his quotes splashed across the front page.
Pretty good company if you ask me. Could certainly do a lot worse.
Spurred on by our new-found notoriety at the foot of the mountains, we decided to drag out the crystal ball again.
The dust was already off so what we saw was even clearer seven days later. Last week we told you why Penrith wouldn’t win the competition. This week, we will tell you why South Sydney are the team to beat.
The Rabbitohs will march again in October thanks to an emerging star in the coaching ranks and an established one on the field.
Jason Demetriou has honed his craft under the best and he may be destined to leave them in his dust. Demetriou has seemingly perfected the art of knowing when to be serious and when to share a laugh. He has the respect of his players because he treats them with respect.
He has extracted the best out of Latrell Mitchell because he has wrapped an arm around the Rabbitohs superstar, spending time with him on his farm and taking the time to develop a personal relationship with the club’s most important player.
They will lift the premiership trophy thanks to the brilliance of a fit Mitchell, who only has to stay on the field to guarantee the Rabbitohs are a top four side. Mitchell has become the most transcendental figure in the game. When he is happy off the field, he is unstoppable on it.
They will win it thanks to inspiration of their indefatigable captain Cameron Murray, the impishness of Cody Walker and the maturity of half Lachlan Ilias, who is another year older and wiser.
They will win it because Damien Cook, after an off year by his own lofty standards, looked like Damien Cook again in the trials.
They will win it because unlike their greatest threats, their combinations remain intact. There is a familiarity at the Rabbitohs. They didn’t have to start again in the pre-season. They walked back into training and connections were quickly renewed.
Their only Achilles heel may be their depth in the middle of the field, yet the talent on their edges more than compensates for any scarcity they have upfront. They have been knocking on the door in recent years, losing in four preliminary finals and the grand final in 2021.
Souths fans have become accustomed to success yet it has been nearly a decade since the Rabbitohs last won a premiership. That may be about to change.
Their window is open and they need to make the most of it.
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