Dragons drama: Decision that’s proof St George Illawarra are wasting their time
Ben Hunt has revealed his reaction to Anthony Griffin’s St George Illawarra shake-up, which includes a big switch the Dragons captain has denied he is “reluctant” to make.
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Ben Hunt is a hesitant dummy half but the St George Illawarra captain has thrown his support behind the move despite his reluctance.
Hunt has again spent the past few days in the headlines after being switched out of his preferred halfback spot.
That spiralled into speculation that he may look to exit the Dragons if coach Anthony Griffin is moved on.
Hunt will start at halfback against the Tigers on Sunday but will move to hooker when Jayden Sullivan comes off the interchange bench.
“(Griffin) knows I don’t like playing there,” Hunt said.
“He could’ve been a bit nervous about putting it to me. I’ve always wanted to play halfback but I’m happy to do what’s best for the team.
“He believes it’s what is best for the team. I feel like I can help us there. I’ve always enjoyed playing halfback more. I’m not reluctant (to move), but it’s the position I’ve enjoyed the most. It’s where I want to be.
“I mentioned it (Griffin) when he said it that I thought about it a couple of times that it could be an option, but I never presented it to him. Deep down I thought I could help the team but my heart has been at halfback.”
Hunt said Sullivan had matured a lot and deserved his spot back in the top grade.
The positional shake-up comes as Griffin tries to spark the Dragons to life. Jacob Liddle and Zac Lomax have been axed and Hunt knows there is a chance he could lead to becoming a permanent nine.
“We haven’t talked about long term,” Hunt said.
“We’ve just spoken about it this week. Our priority is trying to win and get some momentum. If it does work I’ll be stuck there. If we get out and put good game against the Tigers. It might be somewhere I’ll be for a while.
“If it comes at the price of winning games, I‘m pretty happy to play anything. We all play the game because we want to win. If we’re winning and that’s our best brand of footy, is me at nine, then I’ll do it.”
Hunt downplayed any thought of leaving the club. He has been linked with an early exit despite inking a new-deal at the end of last season when Griffin faced an uncertain future.
“(Griffin’s uncertainty) was definitely part of the discussion and I knew going in what it was going to be like,” Hunt said. “I‘m committed to the Dragons.
“I’m coping pretty well to be honest, there’s plenty going on there for the last four or five years, I’m pretty used to it.
“I don’t read too much into it, what’s going on in the outside noise anymore. I’ve learned just to stay away from it, worry about myself and I just want to play good footy.”
Meanwhile, Hunt said Lomax was struggling to come to terms with his surprise axing.
“He‘s taken it pretty hard,” Hunt said. “Hook’s (Griffin) given him a few days off so we haven’t had an opportunity to actually see him face-to-face. I’m sure he’ll deal with it in his own way and come back and prove that he deserves to be in the side.
“It is hard to take. We‘ve all been there. Most players have been dropped.”
RICCIO: DECISION THAT SHOWS DRAGONS ARE WASTING THEIR TIME
Locker Room, David Riccio
Forget 2023, the Dragons are hurtling towards wasting the 2024 season as well.
Another day without a plan, is another head start St George-Illawarra are giving their opposition.
Right now, the Dragons recruitment team, coaching staff and players are walking around with blindfolds on as the St George-Illawarra board lead them around the room.
It’s a board who want passionate Red-V fans to buy memberships or pay to sit on the hill at Kogarah or WIN Stadium, but god forbid, give those same fans an answer where exactly on earth their football team is heading.
Without a head coach for 2024, the Dragons board are wasting precious hours by standing still.
Here’s a multimillion-dollar company that can’t make a decision.
Meanwhile, the Roosters, Panthers, Sharks and Broncos are already planning three and four years ahead.
For fans that aren’t aware, almost every club in the NRL is currently planning for season 2024, 2025, 2026 and even 2027.
That’s how far ahead the good club’s strategize rosters, balance their salary cap accordingly and plan their footy department.
They forecast their positions of strength and weakness, who in their roster is off-contract, where their pathways players will fit in and who from rival clubs could be available to buy.
One Magic Round win on a Sunday against the Wests Tigers won’t fix this mess.
Nothing illustrates the confusion inside Saints from the top down more than what unfolded last Tuesday with hooker Jacob Liddle.
Two weeks ago, the club announced Liddle had re-signed for at least another two years.
There is also an option in the contract that could see him stay for three. The board tick-off on player contracts.
Inside the negotiations, Liddle was told by the club that they saw him as “a Dragon” and that with fellow dummy-half Moses Mbye off-contract, he could become the club’s first-choice number nine, if he wasn’t already.
The catch was, the club couldn’t tell him who the coach would be in the years that he was about to put pen to paper too.
Liddle being Liddle, loaded with willingness, no fuss and overall pleased with how he had settled into the club after moving from the Wests Tigers, went with his gut and re-signed.
On Tuesday, he was dropped from the NRL squad.
On Sunday, he’s playing NSW Cup, not against his former club that he would’ve happily taken a bat too, but in front of a few hundred people at Blacktown.
Mbye, without a contract next year, is running out onto Suncorp Stadium as the starting number nine.
Reading the press that followed Liddle’s surprise axing, a current NRL coach called to explain down the phone how this could be?
If you’re investing three years into one of your most important spine members, well then, he’s your starting nine for the rest of the season, the coach explained.
Dragons head coach Anthony Griffin is entitled to pick whoever he believes will benefit the team.
On Friday, he explained that it was Mbye’s defence that won him the jumper to play against the Tigers.
That’s debatable, but again, it’s the coach’s call.
However, given the decision to drop Liddle, Saints fans have every right to wonder how much influence Griffin had on his re-signing at all.
Which speaks to the absurdity of the board’s inability to make a call on their head coach for 2024.
Who is planning for season 2024 when the club’s first-choice hooker for 2024, 2025 and possibly 2026, is playing reserve grade?
On Friday, I asked head coach Anthony Griffin, that given the Dragons board don’t know who their coach is next year, that (the success of) next year is starting to become an issue as well?
“That’s about next year, mate. We’ll just talk about this week,” Griffin replied.
The Dragons board would be delighted with the answer.
DRAGONS DRAMA: WHY GRIFFIN HASN’T SPOKEN TO AXED LOMAX
Dragons coach Anthony Griffin has rejected claims he has “lost the plot” or “panicked” after axing marquee centre Zac Lomax alongside two other players, while also confirming chief playmaker and captain Ben Hunt would move to hooker.
In the wake of another turbulent week for the besieged Red-V, Griffin confirmed Jack Bird would take over the goalkicking from Lomax while admitting he is yet to speak to the centre about why he was left out of the Magic Round side to face the Wests Tigers on Sunday.
With the Dragons under an intense spotlight due to the board’s lack of direction surrounding who will coach the club in 2024, Griffin stopped short of firing a broadside at his bosses when asked if he felt like he was being “hung out to dry” by management.
“Obviously there is a lot of speculation, but my job is to be part of a team. The players need you every week. That is what I am concentrating on,’’ Griffin said.
Griffin wouldn’t go public with the reasons why Lomax was dropped, adding that the centre won’t play NSW Cup after being given “a week off to clear his head.’’
“We dropped Zac and Jacob Liddle and (Toby) Couchman,’’ Griffin said.
“For Zac there are some things he needs to work on in his game. I’m not going to publicly talk about that, but for me as a coach that comes down to what I think is best for the team and for Zac long term.
“I just want him to clear his head and have a week off. And then we’ll move forward from there.’’
Asked if it were correct that he had yet to explain to Lomax why he had been axed, Griffin replied: “That’s true — no detailed feedback for that reason (Lomax taking a week off).
“My job as a coach is to care for him, particularly at times like this. For any player who gets dropped, it’s hard.
“I do that with the utmost care on a case-by-case basis.
“I wanted Zac to have a bit of time to process it, and then we will sit down as coach and player and go through it.’’
Griffin couldn’t say when Lomax would be back in the NRL.
“It comes back to performances, and hopefully for his sake it’s not too long,’’ the Dragons coach said.
“It’s not something you have a time frame on or a set remedy. It’s just part of football.
“At the moment we have to meet and talk and go through it.
“The process then is getting him back on the field. That is something we will decide what that looks like after we sit down and have a chat.’’
The decision to drop dummy-half Jacob Liddle, who recently re-signed with the club for at least another two years, also stunned Dragons fans.
Griffin said it was the defence of Moses Mbye — named at hooker ahead of Liddle against the Tigers — that drove the selection.
He added that Hunt would move to dummy-half during the match on Sunday with rookie halves Jayden Sullivan and Junior Amone running the side.
“Ben will play some time at hooker,’’ Griffin declared.
“Jayden Sullivan has done a great job since he went back (to NSW Cup), his last month of football he has built a lot of form in the NSW Cup.
“He has improved in a lot of areas that myself and the coaching staff wanted him to improve in.
“It makes it easy for us to say we will get you on in the halves and Ben will spend some time at hooker.
“To Ben’s credit, when I spoke to him about it, he had already thought about it.
“It is just a side of the leader that he is thinking of what is best for the team. He could have easily turned his nose up at it as someone who is going to be a 300-game halfback.
“(Obviously) If I let him (Hunt) pick the team his preference would be halfback.
“But he understands at the moment with the people we have around him and coming through that he can give us a little more leadership by picking the ball up first.’’
The bold selection calls have led to scrutiny from fans and the press that Griffin is “panicking” and that he has “lost the plot”.
“Do I look like I am panicking?,’’ Griffin said with a smile.
“It’s a funny business, the NRL. It’s a brutal business.
“If I start worrying about myself or trying to figure out what someone is writing about me, then I am not doing my job.
“I’ve been a coach for a long time. We have built a really good group here. We have been close (in matches).
“It’s been extremely frustrating for us, because we know how hard everyone is working.
“We could easily be sitting here with three or four wins over the past month. But that’s rugby league, that’s the NRL.
“Any change that we make is in the best interest of the team for the long term.
“It’s not something we just flippantly think if we do this it might work. It’s calculated and measured for everyone’s benefit.’’
Griffin added that his decisions were based on being at the club beyond this season.
“Absolutely (they are),’’ Griffin said.
“The best way to build for the long-term is internally and all the great clubs have done that. You see what Penrith have gone through over the past few years. You see where Brisbane are doing now, three or four years ago (Payne) Haas, Jordan Riki and (Kotoni) Staggs and all those guys (debuted).
“It takes time to build success.
“Our club is doing a really good job of that at the moment.
“This week at some stage you’re going to have Sullivan, Amone and Sloan playing behind Ben Hunt. You have the two (Mat and Max) Feagai boys playing together.
“You have Blake Lawrie who is becoming one of the best props in the league.
“There is an evolution or development happening with our club, and it is going to be a real strong club.’’
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