Paul Kent: What St George Illawarra Dragons can learn from Canberra Raiders’ players-only meeting

One of the great frustrations in the modern game is that too many players don’t seem to care about a result the same way fans in the stand do, at least not publicly, PAUL KENT writes.

St George Illawarra Dragons and Canberra Raiders.

This week’s video review for St George Illawarra should be a replay of Canberra’s win over Brisbane. Bill it as grit with a dose of effort.

Funny things happen when teams go out for a genuine crack. The Raiders, the longest odds of any team this season, limping in with one win all season against Cronulla, went out and beat the undefeated competition leaders to restart their premiership campaign.

It satisfied all the lead-up marketing; that it was a weekend for resurrections.

One of the great frustrations in the modern game is that too many players don’t seem to care about a result the same way fans in the stand do, at least not publicly.

Full-time sounds and the players come together and if there was not a scoreboard box in the corner most fans watching the game would not be able to tell who won the game, given the body language.

Nobody should ever accuse the players of not trying, or even not caring, but there seems to be a routine and acceptance that it is all on again next week, so why be tortured with one bad loss?

Josh Papali'i and the Raiders out-enthused the Broncos. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

The reasons why are wide and varied.

Many old-timers believe the players becoming full-time has turned the game into merely a job for many, bringing the same old biases many carry into their work.

Some rue the modern contract, which has removed win bonuses and, not so much the incentive to win, but the disappointment of loss, as a reason for their indifference.

The most frightening part is that some players are not even NRL fans, as such. They don’t watch the game, but know they are best suited to play rugby league or carry furniture for a living and one is far more profitable than the other.

It points to desire, sometimes, or lack thereof.

WHEN WINNING WAS COSTLY

Matty Johns was a young Knights player stepping up into reserve grade one afternoon when, late in the game and with the Knights protecting a lead, a teammate came up with a loose offload and the ball hit the deck and suddenly an Illawarra player was away.

After the game the player tried to put his teammates at ease.

“It’s one of those things, boys,” he said.

You used to have to earn your pay back in Matthew Johns’ day.

A teammate stood up and said, “Yeah, we shouldn’t be pointing any fingers but,” he said, with a slight shift in his voice, “I just want this bloke to know he cost us the game and that tomorrow night I was going to take my missus and the kids out for dinner but now we’ll be stuck at home eating the same crap we always do because he tried to offload the ball.

“What the f … were you thinking?”

Back then they played for $500 a win which, for men who spent most of their working week down the mines or reaching into drainpipes. It was enough to make a small difference in their lives.

“I must say,” Johns said on Tuesday, “there weren’t a lot of blokes who shut him down.”

It was an honesty session that has since disappeared from the game, the kind of circuit breaker that can jolt a team back into performance.

ACCOUNTABILITY SESSION

The Raiders found a way last week when the senior players asked the coaches to leave the room so they could deliver the review themselves, player on player.

Josh Papalii revealed he believed it would allow more honesty from the group, allowing the younger players to feel more secure to contribute.

It was a sign of maturity among the Raiders.

What sentences got spoken in that room have not been revealed but it led to a performance from the Raiders few saw coming.

DRAGONS IN LIMBO

It is a lesson in accountability the Dragons could do well to replicate.

It already appears the Dragons have cost their coach his job with their own indifferent start to the season.

St George Illawarra bosses are currently interviewing for new coaches for next season.

A board meeting next week will present the first round of applicants and it is hard to see how coach Anthony Griffin gets through this.

Part of it is the modern syndrome within the game, where it is far more affordable to replace the coach than the core playing group.

Either way you look at it though it points to more pain for the Dragons, at least short term.

The club is in heavy need of some energy, on the field and off it.

Yet it can hardly negotiate with players for next season given there is so much uncertainty about the coach. What can they offer a player right now, except more money than he is worth?

Anthony Griffin is Dragons coach, for now.

Sacking Griffin mid-season will only add to their problems, particularly with no football general manager or other figure within the club with the presence to instil confidence in where they are going.

Until then Griffin’s job is to find more from his players.

But it is their job also, as fully paid professional players.

For all the elite footy being played nowadays sometimes the difference is what it always was, something as simple as running a little harder and tackling a little harder, finding a little more effort so, figuratively speaking, you can take the missus and the kids out for a feed tomorrow night.