NRL 2023, Dragons news: St George Illawarra to maintain name after fan survey result
St George Illawarra has revealed a worrying outcome from its fan survey and whether the club will push ahead with a controversial name change proposal.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
St George Illawarra CEO Ryan Webb has revealed the club won’t be changing its name after a fan survey revealed a disconnect with their under-35 fan base.
“The brand and the Dragons is always going to be around,” Webb said.
The timing of the declaration is impeccable.
On Sunday, the most passionate supporters in the game will learn what their footy club stands for.
Three weeks after being slammed by supporters for their 42-24 loss to the Rabbitohs in the annual Charity Shield, the Dragons first step towards restoring pride to the jersey begins against the Gold Coast Titans at WIN Jubilee Oval.
St George Illawarra enforcer Jaydn Su’A has heard the noise. He has a simple yet determined focus on Sunday.
“We want to shut everyone up. That‘s my main objective,’’ the hard-running backrower said.
“It‘s obviously a proud club and we’ve got a decent roster too.
“It‘s up to us now to shut everybody up.
“It (criticism) does throw fuel onto the fire and that makes me really excited to go out this week.
“It‘s not about making a statement, but rather show each other that we’ve got each other’s backs and through this time of adversity we can really come along and play for one another.
“Obviously we didn’t play the best (in the Charity Shield).
“Souths touched us up on the day, but we‘ve had a big pre-season and we’re asking the fans to stick by us.
“What better way to go out there on Sunday and show them all and gain their support again.
“I know we‘ve got some loyal fans and some not so loyal.
“But I‘m sure we’ll go out this weekend and be a club that the fans can be proud of.’’
Dragons captain Ben Hunt, who revealed to The Daily Telegraph on Saturday why rising star Junior Amone will be watching from the grandstand, spoke in a similarly defiant tone to Su’A .
“What I‘ve been driving home to the group is, let’s go out and prove the doubters wrong, show them we’re a united club that can play hard for each other and that we don’t have a bad culture,’’ Hunt said.
“We‘re a great team and internally that’s what is happening.’’
For Su‘a, the clash with the Titans also presents a tasty personal duel with powerhouse backrower David Fifita.
“We‘re good friends from our Broncos days,’’ Su’A said.
“It‘s going to be good going up against him.
“He‘ll be looking to run over the top of me. It’s a good battle for me to show that I can be one of the top second rowers in the comp.
“Hopefully he eats a bit the night before and he doesn‘t have too many runs.’’
Ahead of the clash, Webb explained that a major disconnect with fans under the age of 35 – not a name change – was the major finding of a recent survey of supporters.
Eyebrows were raised when a pre-Christmas survey asked Dragons fans and members about their feelings on a potential name or logo change.
About 1500 people completed the survey with Webb stating there was no desire to drop Illawarra from the name.
“It was never the intent,” Webb said.
“It was essentially a brand ‘health check’ which we’ll use to steer internal marketing and communication activities. That survey had 40 questions.
“The name change isn’t there.‘’
While the name-change dominated headlines, Webb said there were telling outcomes. He pointed to a disengagement with the club’s younger fan base as an area which needed addressing.
“It was a part of a broader engagement with our internal and external stakeholders to get clarity on how we are perceived as a club,” Webb said.
“It shows us where strengths and weaknesses lie and we can build around this.
“We need to better engage with fans under 35. There’s a need to improve our brand messaging – what do we stand for?
“Better branding and messaging through digital channels. Our work in the digital space needs to be stronger and clearer. We’re seen as a traditional brand by some but others quite young.
“We have this broad spectrum of how people are seeing us. ”
UNBELIEVABLE BRAIN DRAIN THAT’S BURIED DRAGONS
David Riccio
It’s very likely that this column has no idea.
But the Roosters, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Cowboys, Eels, Sharks, Titans and Raiders?
Surely they’ve got a clue.
Their combined list of finals, upon finals appearances, is a fair indication they are all clubs with a strong management structure that can identify the best coaches to drive culture and mentor talent towards repeated success.
This is where it gets concerning for St George-Illawarra fans, who on Sunday against the Titans, go to their first game of a season underpinned by uncertainty.
Head coach Anthony Griffin needs a big three months. He doesn’t have a contract beyond this year.
But even then, do Dragons fans have faith that the current board have the nous to nail Griffin’s replacement, should he be moved on?
History shows they don’t know what’s good for them. The rest of the competition is showing them too.
Currently across the NRL, at State of Origin level and in the English Super League, there are 16 coaches who are either former Dragons players that are coaching at other clubs, or others - like South Sydney’s Jason Demetriou - who began their coaching journey at Saints, but were let go.
Not one, two, or three, or even 10.
An extraordinary 16.
The list could be even longer if emerging coaches and ex-Dragons George Ndaira (Newtown head coach) and Matt Head (Wynnum-Manly head coach) were included.
Stories of the Raiders being a coaching nursery of the 1990’s, that developed Craig Bellamy, Ricky Stuart, Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley and Todd Payten are well told.
The Storm too, have emerged as a coaching factory with Brad Arthur, Stephen Kearney, Kevin Walters, Adam O’Brien and Michael Maguire, each developing within the purple army.
Yet the Dragons too, also have a shopping list of coaches that have walked in and out of the club.
It has led to the question, why were they ever let go? If it’s good enough for heavyweights like the Roosters, Rabbitohs and Sharks, why not the Dragons?
Demetriou was named NSW Cup coach of the year in 2016 when he took the Illawarra Cutters to the reserve grade premiership.
By the end of that year, Wayne Bennett called and said ‘you’re coming with me to be my assistant at the Broncos’. Demetriou is now attempting to take the Rabbitohs one step further than last year’s preliminary final.
Alongside Demetriou in the coaches box at Souths? Ben Hornby.
Hornby needs no introduction when it comes to his standing within the Dragons as a former premiership-winning captain.
He began his coaching journey at Saints back in 2013 as the SG Ball coach and spent the next seven years developing his coaching before being let go to link with Bennett at Souths in 2020.
Bennett has done it again, this time plucking Nathan Fien out of coaching Collegians in the Illawarra competition, to be his assistant at The Dolphins.
Titans coach Justin Holbrook coached the Dragons under-20’s in 2012 from eighth-place to a preliminary final.
He was gone a few weeks later.
Within the next four years, Holbrook would be poached by the Eels to work alongside Brad Arthur and then Trent Robinson pinched him to join the Roosters.
Shane Flanagan is the Sea Eagles attack coach and right-hand man to Anthony Siebold. He took the Sharks to an historic first premiership in 2016, later joining the Dragons as an assistant and then head of recruitment last year.
Not only is Flanagan a proven coach, but a coach who understands the impact of every salary cap decision that Saints have made over the past three years.
Fairly appealing, one would think.
Former NRL coaches and Dragons alumni Trent Barrett and Nathan Brown are both working at the Eels.
At a time where the Dragons are losing far too many of the best young juniors, Brown is harvesting the blue and gold nursery.
Barrett, who lives 20-minutes from WIN Stadium in Wollongong, is Arthur’s attack coach.
Paul McGregor is good enough to be helping coach the best players in NSW as Brad Fittler’s assistant, but deemed not good enough for Saints, eventually let go in 2020.
The Dragons had a chance to sign Craig Fitzgibbon, who lives closer to Wollongong than Cronulla, before he joined the Sharks.
Saints couldn’t get a deal done.
Fitzgibbon is using former Dragons head coach Steve Price as his defence coach. Price was Flanagan’s right-hand man when the Sharks won the 2016 premiership.
The Sharks attack coach is Daniel Holdsworth, who played two seasons with the Dragons in 2004-05. Holdsworth has an increasing reputation as a coach, proven by his elevation to the assistant coach role for Samoa at the most recent world cup.
The list keeps going.
Dean Young, with a surname no more famous at Saints, is with the Cowboys. Like Hornby, he began his coaching journey in the Dragons lower grades in 2013.
Jason Ryles, the former hard-running Dragon, is Roosters coach Trent Robinson’s assistant. Before that? He was at the Storm.
The list goes on.
Former Dragons assistant Peter Gentle (with Siebold at the Sea Eagles), 38-game Saints halfback Willie Peters is the head coach of Hull KR in the UK, former Dragons coaching advisor Mick Crawley is working alongside Ricky Stuart at the Raiders and Dragons club champion Brett Morris is coaching with Robinson at the Roosters.
At some point, the Dragons board will need to make a call on Griffin’s future.
History shows they will struggle to find his replacement, even when it’s under their nose.
THE DRAGONS BRAIN DRAIN
Jason Demetriou - Rabbitohs head coach
Justin Holbrook - Titans head coach
Trent Barrett - Eels attack coach
Nathan Fien - Dolphins assistant coach
Dean Young - Cowboys assistant coach
Craig Fitzgibbon - Sharks head coach
Steve Price - Sharks assistant coach
Jason Ryles - Roosters assistant coach
Nathan Brown - Eels head of pathways
Paul McGregor - NSW Origin assistant coach
Shane Flanagan - Sea Eagles assistant coach
Willie Peters - Hull KR head coach
Peter Gentle - Sea Eagles recruitment
Brett Morris - Roosters assistant
Daniel Holdsworth - Sharks assistant
Mick Crawley - Raiders assistant coach
Watch every game of every round of the 2023 NRL Telstra Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The need for speed: What it’s like to train with NRL’s fastest
Already one of the fastest men in the NRL, Dom Young knows he can move even faster. Watch the exclusive video as the Roosters flyer invites you into the training sessions to reveal how he trains for speed.
Dolphins scouting report: Best 17, breaking the ‘Bennett Curse’
The Dolphins head into their third season with a rookie NRL coach and one of rugby league’s most enduring hoodoos. TRAVIS MEYN answers the burning questions facing the club in 2025.