Canterbury must decide, right now if Dean Pay is the coach of the future
The Bulldogs must decide, right now, if Dean Pay is the man to carry the club forward or if he isn’t. Because one thing is certain, writes DAVID RICCIO, the Dogs legend is holding him his end of the deal.
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A Canterbury board meeting on Thursday night will tell us how much the Bulldogs believe in their head coach Dean Pay.
And how much he believes in them.
Pay’s coaching future isn’t listed as an agenda item, but let’s all accept there will be a late reshuffle to the line-up.
After 20 months as head coach, the time has come for the Bulldogs hierarchy to either back Pay long term, or go in another direction. How can the Bulldogs spruik their future to players, sponsors and fans when they don’t know who the coach will be next year?
In March 2019, Pay was given an additional 12-month extension to his contract, taking him through until this coming November.
It was hardly an act of sureness.
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The deal for Pay to stay until the end of this season was sold by management as “showing the faith”.
I would argue the short-term deal said more about Pay’s commitment to the club he first joined 31 years ago as a player, than that of Canterbury’s.
And it’s a commitment, too, that he has doubled down on in recent months without so much as a snigger.
Few are aware, but Pay is the only coach in the NRL still earning just 60 per cent of his salary as a result of the club’s COVID-19 financial cutbacks.
Without intending to embarrass the 51-year-old, Pay is currently the lowest-paid coach in the game — earning less than a large percentage of his players.
And here we are, with the club back under the spotlight and with ever-present speculation over their coach.
Management will tell you their decision “to see a bit more” isn’t about Pay as a man, who they respect and like, but a case of wanting to see an upward trend in performance and recruitment even though everyone at the club knew the rebuild after Des Hasler’s departure in 2017 would take closer to four years.
Another option is that Pay walks.
It’s advice he’s received by more than a few in recent weeks — but has refused to consider for the sake of his players and his 24/7 desire to turn Canterbury’s roster into the year-on-year finals team he believes they can be.
Thankfully, there’s more than a few influential figures inside The Kennel who know the weekly dance-off with the press over Pay and his potential replacement has run its course.
If last Friday was about a carefully worded statement to deny any link by the club to Craig Bellamy — yet strategically also made no mention of Pay’s name — next week we should expect a statement about Wayne Bennett.
If you listen to the whispers along Canterbury Road, Bennett wouldn’t mind joining a club flush with funds and working with the like-minded Andersons — who walk into work with a narrow focus on one thing: their club.
Bellamy, Bennett or Brutus the Bulldogs mascot, it really doesn’t matter.
While ever the club dances around Pay’s future, there’ll be talk of his replacement every week.
In a perfect world, the Bulldogs roll through the struggling Sharks on Sunday and everyone from marketing to sponsorship at Belmore turn up Monday morning and, before making a cup of tea, paper over the cracks that will remain under the surface until management makes a clear call on the only off-contract coach in the NRL.
Uncertainty feeds doubt — and doubt is now seeping into the last place any footy club wants, the Bulldogs dressing room, where 11 players are off-contract but with no idea if their coach will be at the club beyond 2020.
And if not Pay, then who?
The revolution of the Canberra Raiders under Ricky Stuart makes no sense to Cronulla and Parramatta fans.
But the decision by Stuart — one of Pay’s great mates — to quit his two former clubs has contributed to his current success.
Lacking stability and consistent support from above, he had the bottle to walk away from the Sharks in 2010 after four years and the Eels in 2013 after one year.
The Sharks and Eels shared a likeness in their distinct lack of structure and dysfunctional leadership at board level — determining factors Stuart can’t recognise at the Raiders, who boast one of the most connected, authoritative and collaborative boards in Australian sport.
The decision by the Bulldogs football committee to overrule Pay’s desire to sign Josh Reynolds isn’t the be all and end all, but it illustrates the conflict at the club of making decisions for now — and for the future.
The former NSW Origin five-eighth and club favourite was prepared to return to the ‘Berries’ for the paltry price of $100,000 for what remains of this season.
Knowing the value, experience and passion Reynolds could bring to the Dogs, Pay was keen to sign the Wests Tigers playmaker in a bid to shock-start Canterbury’s return from COVID-19 suspension three weeks ago.
The football committee disagreed, citing a focus on investing in next-generation half Jake Averillo, while also reluctant to add another half to their salary cap that is already paying Kieran Foran, Lachlan Lewis, Brandon Wakeham and Jeremy Marshall-King.
It’s a fair argument by the committee — and one Pay would no doubt agree with if he knew he was at the helm of the team beyond this season.
But he’s not.
Instead, he’s chasing wins to prove himself to the Canterbury board and looking at players, such as Reynolds, who can assist his climb north on the NRL ladder.
It’s a flawed model derived from doubt and uncertainty, and only the Canterbury board can fix it. Starting Thursday.
TOLMAN KEPT AWAY FROM TEAMMATES
by Michael Carayannis
Quarantined Bulldogs veteran Aiden Tolman won’t be allowed to train with his teammates before playing for Canterbury in round seven.
News Corp Australia has learned the Bulldogs have been told Tolman is unable to interact with the rest of the Canterbury squad until the day of their clash against the Tigers next Sunday night.
It means the veteran would not have trained for more than two weeks before taking to the field.
Tolman was given clearance by the NRL to check out of a hotel on Wednesday and return home. He has undergone another COVID test after his original test came back negative last week.
Tolman has been quarantined and will miss Sunday’s clash against the Sharks after a staff member at his child’s school tested positive to the virus.
He has been free to train at home and in a nearby park to keep his fitness levels high and ready himself for an NRL return.
While coach Dean Pay will make the call on Tolman’s place in the team, chief executive Andrew Hill said the veteran forward should be available to play by next round.
“There is every reason why he would come back and straight into the team,” Hills said. “He is a naturally fit person and a long-term player. He is allowed to exercise at home. He isn’t banned from leaving his home to exercise and is doing everything he can to stay fit.
“I would be confident the coach would be keen to get him in.”
The Bulldogs have not given up hope of Tolman return to training slightly earlier. They plan to reach out to the NRL to see if the 31-year-old could re-join the team for their captain’s run on Saturday.
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“He has been told to stay away from the ‘bubble’ for 14 days,” Hill said. “We’re just working through some more information.”
Fellow Bulldog forward Luke Thompson is halfway through his two week quarantine after arriving in Australia as Canterbury’s high profile recruit from St Helens. Thompson will miss at least the next two Bulldogs games with the English international’s earliest chance of playing his first game for Canterbury in round eight against one of the clubs who were competing for his services – South Sydney.