Dean Young leads contenders to coach St George Illawarra Dragons
The Dragons board have overseen failure since 2010, so they can’t afford to get this next decision wrong. Check out who’s in the running for the hot seat, and who’s leading the charge.
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The Dragons coaching job is Dean Young’s to lose.
Paul McGregor’s “resignation” has elevated one of the club’s most loyal, fearless and hardest-working servants into the hot seat for the remainder of the year.
Young, who played 209 NRL-games for only ever St George-Illawarra, is the front-runner to hold down the position long-term.
Wayne Bennett should be considered the only threat to come in over the top of Young next season — as a coaching director.
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It’s worth nothing Bennett and the Young family get on famously.
The Dragons board have overseen failure since 2010 — so they can’t afford to get this next decision wrong.
And it’s for that reason, hoping to rekindle the magic of Bennett’s premiership year, that the board will romanticise about bringing back the supercoach.
But what would that say about the Dragons board, if they were to cultivate and develop one of their own, hoping that one day he’ll be an NRL coach, only to spear him for a 70-year-old?
Is this a decision for now — or what the Dragons look like over the next decade?
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The Dragons have an identity crisis and the adjectives to describe Young, 36, are exactly what he will attempt to instill back into the Red-V.
What the Dragons stand for. Their character. Are they resilient?
Young has been coaching at the club since 2014, working with the under-20s before being elevated into the NRL coaching staff.
He will have a premiership-winning coach beside him in Shane Flanagan, who also believes Young has the mindset and work ethic to be an NRL coach.
As for who else the Dragons may target, the list is thin.
You can rule out Jason Ryles, he’s not turning his back on becoming Eddie Jones’ assistant in England.
Paul Green is hanging out for the Brisbane Broncos job while Anthony Griffin, Todd Payten, John Cartwright and Shaun Wane are all determined to have a big swing at the Cowboys coaching position.
South Coast product and Roosters assistant coach Craig Fitzgibbon is committed to the Tricolours until the end of 2022, while Trent Barrett and Nathan Brown would have previously been considered, but have now secured NRL jobs with Canterbury and the Warriors, respectively.
It’s Young’s gig to lose and when he takes over as head coach next week he will have six games to prove he’s the future of the Dragons.
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