Anthony Griffin sacked: Former Dragons coach Paul McGregor on his St George Illawarra exit, board room chaos

Former Dragons coach Paul McGregor has opened up on his extraordinary St George Illawarra exit, lifting the lid on the bizarre board decisions during his time at the club.

Paul McGregor announces his departure from the Dragons in 2020.

Paul McGregor has revealed the extraordinary circumstances that led to his demise at St George Illawarra, while detailing what needs to be done to get the troubled NRL club back on the road to success.

In the wake of Anthony Griffin’s sacking, the man who made way for Griffin in 2020 also revealed the stunning restraints he was forced to work under in his final seasons at the Dragons.

That included not having full authority on team selections, while also having no final say on retention and recruitment or what the players were even being paid.

And while conceding that he doesn’t think the job going forward of rebuilding the Dragons is beyond a rookie coach like Jason Ryles, Ben Hornby or Dean Young, McGregor was adamant the club must identify “the best-credentialed person” and then “pick and stick” for the duration of their contract.

Former St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor with Zac Lomax. Picture: Brett Costello

“If you have signed him for four or five years, pick and stick and let the guy put people, whoever he wants to, around him who he thinks can improve him and teach him,” McGregor said.

“Certainly a rookie coach will need multiple strong people around him that have been in situations that he is going to find himself in, that is without a doubt.

“If you look back in my last 18 months I had three CEOs (Peter Doust, Brian Johnston and Ryan Webb).

“That had its challenges as well.”

LOSS OF POWER

McGregor was at pains to point out that he holds no animosity towards the Dragons.

But he also gave incredible details of his loss of power.

In respect to team selections, he went from taking the Dragons to a field goal short of a preliminary final in 2018, to not having ultimate say on who wore which jumper in 2020.

It followed a troubled 2019 season, where the Dragons lost Jack de Belin to the NRL’s no-fault stand-down policy — but still had to carry his salary on their cap — while also dealing with former skipper Gareth Widdop’s shock departure back to England, despite having two years left on his contract.

Gareth Widdop (right) and Reece Robson.

“I went from leading the comp for 20 rounds and getting beaten by three field goals (in the 13-12 semi-final loss to South Sydney in 2018), to not being able to pick my own side within 15 months and losing full ownership of retention and recruitment,” McGregor said.

“How do you go from one extreme to the other?

“It was obviously a board decision how I lost the selection of the footy team. Then the recruitment and retention was like, obviously the coach has a say, but I didn’t know what the players were earning.”

NO HARD FEELINGS

McGregor knows the Dragons were trying to look after him by relieving him of sole responsibility of recruitment and retention and team selections, however he said a head coach just couldn’t operate under those constraints.

“I want it said with the Dragons when I was there, they were only doing what they felt was helping me,” McGregor said.

“I personally don’t feel that at any time they were doing things to hurt me.

“But it ended up working in the opposite direction.

“I just think whoever the coach ends up being needs control.

“Like, he can’t have half control, or a third control. He needs full control.

“And that is my biggest point.

Former Dragons coach Anthony Griffin. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

“Every club will do it a bit differently, but I know from experience that at the end of the day, yes, you have a selection panel and a retention-and-recruitment team, but the coach should have the final say on who comes and goes and how that fits into the cap.

“I think it changed after I left. I think Hook did have that control. But that certainly wasn’t the case in my final years.

“We had Dean Young, Shane Flanagan and myself (picking the team). And then it was reported through Ben Haran to the board. We sat in a room and went around and picked the team. For argument’s sake, if Dean and Shane went Matt Dufty at fullback and I wanted a different player, well, I didn’t get to choose the player I wanted.”

THE ULTIMATUM

In the end, McGregor said, he just made the decision he couldn’t continue under the system that was in place after the club refused his request to take back control of team selections and recruitment and retention.

“Everyone thought I got sacked,” he said.

“I actually went to the board and asked them to change.

“I said, ‘I have got to pick my own team and I have to have full knowledge of what’s happening in recruitment and retention and the prices we are paying’.

“And they said, ‘Well, we will take it to the board’ … anyway, they got back to me that that wasn’t going to be the case.”

So with that, there was an agreement reached that McGregor would coach one final game and then walk.

McGregor and Cameron McInnes celebrate winning his final game in charge of the Dragons.

THE LAST STAND

After round 13 of 2020, the call was made that the following week’s clash with Parramatta would be McGregor’s last in charge.

He gave an emotional recount of the players final goodbye.

“(Former captain) Cam McInnes presented me a jumper in the dressing sheds and every player got up and gave me a standing ovation,” McGregor said, conceding he had tears in his eyes, although they turned to tears of joy following the final win.

“So it is not that I lost the playing group.

“The playing group were frustrated with obviously a few things that were happening at the time around my position.”

Asked how much the very public fallout impacted on him personally, he added: “I reckon I have taken it okay.

“Look, I have been around the game a very long time, 29 years in and around professional rugby league. So when you take the job you know you are obviously not retiring in it. People around me were a bit more worried than what I was. Family and friends. But I basically gave it all I could under the circumstances.”

‘I WANT TO COACH’

Since his departure from the Dragons, McGregor worked in 2021 under NSW coach Brad Fittler in the pathways development program, while he was a consultant to Brad Arthur on the way to Parramatta’s grand final last year.

This season, he remains one of Fittler’s NSW Origin assistants.

NSW assistant Paul McGregor with Queensland counterpart Johnathan Thurston ahead of this year’s State of Origin series. Picture: Morgan Sette.

Asked if he still has a desire to be a head coach, he did not hesitate: “I would still like to be a coach. That is why I worked with Brad (Arthur) and I am working with Freddy.

“I am staying in the game in and around the elite players.

“Coaching gives you great purpose. It is a passion. You are around people who you can really help shape their lives.

“So I still want to continue to do that.”