Canterbury deny Dean Pay will be sacked if the Bulldogs lose to the Dragons on Monday
Canterbury have revealed the truth around Dean Pay’s future amid speculation the coach will be sacked if the Bulldogs fall to the Dragons on Monday.
Bulldogs
Don't miss out on the headlines from Bulldogs. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It’s not D-Day for Dean.
The Bulldogs have broken their silence on the future of Dean Pay, with club CEO Andrew Hill revealing no deadline has been placed on the under-siege coach.
With Pay reported to have been given a beat St George Illawarra on Monday or be sacked ultimatum, Hill came forward on the eve of the clash to declare a Dragons defeat would not be the final nail in the coffin of his coaching career.
“There is no time frame,’’ Hill said.
“Everyone at the club is absolutely united. The board, the coach, the playing group, we are all sticking to our plan. There is no time frame (on Pay’s future) and we are all here working together and supporting each other.’
While there have been no ultimatums, there have also been no guarantees. Off contract at the end of the season, Pay will have to lift the Bulldogs from the NRL floor to be any hope of earning another deal.
Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership. Every game of every round Live & On-Demand with no-ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Hill was adamant the Bulldogs had not begun the search for Pay’s replacement and would give the incumbent a chance to earn a new deal.
“The club hasn’t spoken to any other coach,’’ Hill said.
“We will be doing all we can, over the next couple of week in particular, trying to get a few wins behind us.”
Set to take on the Dragons in what has been billed as the battle of the coaches with Paul McGregor also in the firing line, the Bulldogs bid to win their first match of the season will be helped by the return of Kieran Foran.
But Hill admitted the club was still “two to three” players short after the sackings of Jayden Okunbor and Corey Harawira-Naera.
“The June 30 deadline has been pushed back to the August 3,’’ Hill said.
“We have two or three spots we need to fill and we need to look at a balance of how best to fill those spots.”
One of those spots could be filled by Bryson Goodwin, with the Bulldogs manoeuvring to snare the veteran centre on a bargain basement deal one-year deal amounting to $40,000.
Goodwin is not seen as a long-term replacement for departing young gun Morgan Harper but a backline back-up.
LISTEN! This week on The Daily Telegraph podcast Mobbsy, Mick and Buzz talk through financial irresponsibility of clubs after just one round, Paul McGregor’s St George Illawarra future, Dean Pay being under pressure at Canterbury PLUS John Bateman’s injury and what it means for the Canberra Raiders’ premiership hopes
Harper signed a two-year deal with the Sea Eagles last season after the Bulldogs anointed Jake Averillo as their future backline star.
“We are backing ourselves to bring these young stars through,” Hill said.
“The last couple of games have been frustrating but we have confidence in our ability to bring these young players through.’’
The Bulldogs are on the hunt for two big-name players next season, with David Fifita and John Bateman both linked to the club.
“We will always look to add players to our squad at the right time,’’ Hill said.
“We have done that with Luke Thompson and we will continue to do that with quality players that we feel can improve our squad.”
PAY RINGS IN THE CHANGES FOR LAST STAND
by Michael Carayannis
Canterbury coach Dean Pay has made widespread changes to his backline in a bid to spark his team’s lacklustre attack.
The Saturday Telegraph has learnt Pay will make up to six alterations to the team which lost to Manly last Sunday ahead of their match against St George Illawarra on Monday.
Only winger Nick Meaney will keep the exact role he filled on the wing during the Bulldogs 32-6 loss to the Sea Eagles.
Among the changes Pay is expected to make include;
*Shifting Kiwi skipper Dallin Watene-Zelezniak from fullback to wing.
*Will Hopoate moving from the centres to fullback.
*Reimis Smith swapping from left centre to right.
*Boom youngster Jake Averillo earning his first career start at centre.
*Winger Christian Crichton axed.
Kieran Foran will also return in the No. 6 jersey Lachie Lewis wore last start with Lewis moving into the halfback role to play a desperate Dragons team. Halfback Jack Cogger was dropped earlier this week.
The changes need to spark the Bulldogs attack which has netted just 24 points from the opening three matches. Only the hapless Titans have scored less and 16 of the Bulldogs points came in their round two loss to the Cowboys.
The Bulldogs’ attack has been an ongoing problem for the side which featured last season scoring the league’s lowest average of 13.5 points per game. The losing coach on Monday will come under intense scrutiny. A planned training session yesterday was cancelled after club great Terry Lamb breached the NRL’s strict biosecurity protocols. Lamb shook hands with a host of players and officials on Thursday and was forced to undergo a COVID test before the players were allowed to return to Belmore. Lamb, who apologised for his actions, was cleared of the coronavirus, enabling the team to train again today.
“I would like to apologise to the Bulldogs and the NRL for breaching COVID protocols at training,” Lamb said. “I was over excited about getting to Belmore again and wanting to wish Kieran Foran all the best for his 200th game and in doing so I breached the protocols by shaking the hands of several players to wish them all the best.
“Although I was not standing in the restricted zone, I shouldn’t have contacted players in the bubble, but in my over excitement I overstepped the mark and I apologise for that.”
Lamb had turned up to give a jumper to the club to mark Foran’s 200th game. Canterbury risk being fined by the NRL who are yet to determine if the Bulldogs will be punished.
Bulldogs chief executive Andrew Hill said Lamb had made a “mistake trying to wish players all the best”.
“As a club we have worked hard to adhere to all NRL protocols around getting the game restarted and we acknowledge the tremendous work that has gone on to get us playing again,” Hill said. “We acted swiftly to inform the NRL and to get Terry tested straight away and with his results showing a clean bill of health, we will now revise our processes to make sure that this never happens again.”
‘Bull****’: Furious Pay responds to ultimatum claims
by Paul Crawley, James Phelps
Dean Pay has shot down “bullshit” speculation that Canterbury bosses have give him an ultimatum heading into Monday’s crucial clash against St George Illawarra.
When the talk was put to him that he needed to win or Pay faced the sack — after reportedly being hauled into a meeting with chair Lynne Anderson and chief executive Andrew Hill following last Sunday’s loss to Manly — Pay responded: “That’s all bullshit. We have had a couple of meetings but it was about recruitment and different things. It has been normal business.
“(Anderson) hasn’t given me an ultimatum or put a time line on it, that’s for sure.”
He was also upset at accusations he doesn’t get along with his players.
“Why don’t you go and ask the players? They will give you an honest opinion,” Pay said.
Pay also opened up about the pressure he is under to keep his job beyond this season.
He said he loves coaching Canterbury but does not fear what could be.
“It is out of my control,” Pay said. “I just want to do the best I can and get the best results I can.”
Even his harshest critics would concede Pay has been basically coaching with one arm tied behind his back since he took over given the club’s dire salary cap predicament, coupled with the fact Kieran Foran only played 14 games last year and hasn’t played this year.
The Bulldogs won three of the four games Foran played in at the end of last season before suffering his shoulder injury while playing for New Zealand.
“I know moving forward the club will be in a better position next year and at least we can go out and try and put two or three quality players in our squad which would be massive for us,” Pay said.
There is also a strong chance English prop Luke Thompson will join the team in the coming weeks.
Pay conceded some of the constant speculation “was starting to wear me down,” particularly talk relating to player unrest.
“But there is nothing I can do about it. I will continue to try and get the best out of them.”
He also defended his under-fire young playmakers Jack Cogger and Lachy Lewis.
With Foran hopefully back for his 200th NRL game, Pay described what it was like to have him train on Thursday.
“I will give you an example, Kieran trained on Thursday and the amount of confidence and the difference in our training levels just because he was out there went through the roof,” Pay said.
“His talk and his body language and how they respond to it … they just haven’t had that experience to help them along.
“We have had young players running the show who are doing their best. But they haven’t come on as quick as we’d have liked because they haven’t experienced that (having Foran consistently playing with them).
“We also have a young bloke (Jeremy Marshall-King) playing nine as well. So, yeah, experience is what we lack.
“Yeah, it got away on us the other day (last Sunday) but Manly are a bloody good team.”
Asked if he felt he had a good relationship with his players, Pay added: “Yeah I do. Under the circumstances, we have copped a flogging for a couple of years, and you walk in and they still have energy about them. They bounce in here and get into it, which is a credit to them.”
Pay knows the pressure is on to beat the Dragons but it’s a mark of the man that Pay also wished his under fire opposite Paul McGregor the best.
“I get on good with Mary,” he said.
“But one of us is going to lose, unless it is a draw. That will bamboozle people. They won’t know what to say then.”
FORAN SAYS DON’T BLAME PAY
That was the message from Kieran Foran with the returning star claiming the Bulldogs players had to take responsibility for the club’s winless start to the season.
Set to make his latest comeback when Canterbury take on the Dragons on Monday, Foran declared he would be giving it “his all’’ to inspire the Bulldogs to their first win and silence talk about coach Dean Pay’s future.
“The coach can only do so much,” Foran said.
“It is up to the players to turn up on the day and perform at that high level and execute. That is not Dean’s responsibility. We need to make sure we are up for it on the day and we need to find a way. We need to turn up on Monday and be ready to win at all costs.’’
The Bulldogs are hoping Foran can be their saviour with the former Test star to play just his 27th game for the club since being brought to Belmore in 2018 as the club’s big-money recruit.
Crashing to their third loss of the season with the dismal display that saw calls for Pay’s sacking against Manly last week, Foran is also hoping he can lead a Bulldogs resurrection and ease pressure on both Pay and the club.
“It is part and parcel of the job,’’ Foran said.
“I have been around rugby league enough to know that when you lose games you get that added pressure. The only way to stop the pressure and stop that talk is to get some wins. That is all we are focused on from this weekend – trying to string as many wins together as we can. It will stop the pressure and the talk in its tracks.’’
MORE NEWS
Cricket Australia and players at war again over pay and nature of sport’s finances
Former Socceroo Zeljko Kalac says potential cancellation of NPL season would be ‘catastrophic’
Set to play his 200th game in what has been an injury stalled career, Foran also declared himself 100 per cent fit.
The star playmaker is hopeful of staying on the field for the remainder of the year and earning himself a new NRL deal.
“My body is feeling great,’’ Foran said.
“I put in a ton of effort and it is feeling really good. I just decided to give it an extra week to make sure it was right so I could do my job for the team. I am feeling strong, fit and capable.
“I haven’t given that (the future) too much thought. For me it is all about the weekend.”
Foran backed Pay to continue beyond this year when the coach’s contract expires.
We are all behind him. We love the way he coaches and the way he turns up each and every day. We will be doing everything we can to make sure we perform this Monday.’’