NRL 2023: Dragons coach Ryan Carr fires back at critics of Jack de Belin captaincy call

St George Illawarra interim coach Ryan Carr has staunchly defended his decision to hand the Dragons’ captaincy to controversial forward Jack de Belin.

Jack de Belin has been named captain of the Dragons. Picture: Getty

St George Illawarra interim coach Ryan Carr has backed Jack de Belin’s rise to the captaincy despite some criticism of the move.

De Belin will lead the Dragons out for the first time on Thursday night against the Dolphins as St George Illawarra battle to fill the leadership void left by Ben Hunt’s Origin selection.

Carr has made a couple of big calls since taking on the head coaching duties – first recalling Zac Lomax from NSW Cup and this week appointing de Belin as skipper.

“He is our most experienced player,” Carr said. “You can tell by his form in the past month how hard he is trying for this team. He wears his heart on his sleeve. The boys are following him through his performance.

“It’s based on his performances and actions as a leader at the moment. He is our most experienced player. We picked the person who could do the best job for the team this week.

“This is my first year at the club. What’s happened previously is not for me to comment on. You can tell how hard he is trying and how hard he is trying to be a leader.

“Ben is our captain. It’s just for this week. We have a relatively young squad as you can see on paper.”

Jack de Belin will captain the Dragons this weekend. Picture: Getty

Carr acknowledged the dearth of senior players at the club. Hunt, de Belin, Lomax and Jack Bird are joined in the leadership group alongside injured duo Jaydn Su’A and Blake Lawrie.

“Blocker (Lawrie) and Su’A are our experienced players who are out through injury,” Carr said. “We’re working hard on (leadership). Whoever is in that position needs to do the job. Once we ask people to do things which aren’t natural to them it becomes a bit forced. They can all lead by doing their job.”

Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett celebrated his 900th game in charge earlier this month. For Carr it will be just his second after taking over from Anthony Griffin last week.

He celebrated a dramatic come from behind win as the siren sounded against the Roosters last week as the Dragons halted a six game losing streak.

“Every NRL game is hard to win,” Carr said. “Everyone is beating everyone. To get two points every week is something we have to cherish and value. That’s the feeling we want to bottle up and get again.

“You want to (play finals). It would be ignorant for us to look that far ahead. They are really strong opposition. We know they will be up for it. If we start looking at the ladder, they are things we can’t control.”

Carr said Bird (knee) would be fit to play after missing last week’s match.

This isn’t Cricket Australia: Dragons had no choice on de Belin

Like anything surrounding Jack de Belin the Dragons decision to name him captain has created plenty of debate.

For mine the Dragons had little choice but to hand de Belin the leadership of the side albeit for a one-off occasion in the absence of regular skipper Ben Hunt.

You can certainly question de Belin’s moral compass but you can’t draw the line on what leadership positions he can hold.

This isn’t Cricket Australia.

De Belin missed more than two seasons as he faced serious sexual assault charges.

During the second court case a jury found him innocent of one charge but couldn’t reach a verdict on the others.

The DPP withdrew the charges.

Jack de Belin has been named captain of the Dragons. Picture: Getty

Being part of the now infamous BBQ at Paul Vaughan’s house during Covid-19 restrictions has been de Belin’s only misstep since returning to the public eye midway through 2021.

St George Illawarra former coach Anthony Griffin tried to name de Belin co-captain just weeks into his comeback. That was rightfully howled down because the timing was not right. Now it is.

If the justice system has played out and he has been allowed back to the game without being found guilty of any crime then why should be stopped from running the team out?

Dragons fans were largely happy to cheer him for his exploits on the field last Friday and lined up for selfies post-game.

De Belin’s appointment probably says more about the lack of leaders at the Dragons.

From a purely football perspective, the decision makes sense.

At 32, he is just two years younger than interim coach Ryan Carr and is clearly their most experienced and best player minus Hunt.

He is part of the leadership group and led the team song following the victory on Friday night. Other potential options including Jaydn Su’A and Blake Lawrie are injured. Jack Bird and Zac Lomax are part of the leadership group but they aren’t yet equipped to lead. Moses Mbye may be a natural fit but like Lomax has spent time out of the first grade side in recent weeks.