St George Illawarra would have struggled to field a team if they’d beaten South Sydney
EVEN if St George Illawarra had pulled off the upset against South Sydney they would have been hard pressed fielding a team next week.
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A BANGED up St George Illawarra side would have struggled to cobble together anything which resembled a full strength side had they advanced one more game.
Coach Paul McGregor conceded he had just about squeezed the lemon dry of his gallant St George Illawarra side. With Gareth Widdop, Paul Vaughan and Jason Nightingale sidelined, the Dragons depth was already in question heading into last night’s game.
Tariq Sims (leg) hobbled off in the second half while Nene MacDonald and Tyson Frizell were forced to play out the final moment of the game because the Dragons had used their full interchanges.
While Jack de Belin has barley trained in recent weeks because of an ankle injury.
“I haven’t seen Jack he has been in physio,” McGregor said. “He has been in a boot, soft shoe, then into a jogger into a needle, into a footy boots. That’s not uncommon for a few blokes.
“Pretty much shows the character I’ve been talking about most of the year.
“We are busted. A lot of guys played with a needle. A lot of blokes didn’t train. The real turning point was we needed to finish with 17 fit men… we got injured at the wrong time.
“It’s been our most successful year since 2011.”
McGregor said the loss was an “opportunity missed” but the side had made giant strides in winning their first finals match since 2010.
“As a coach it’s a great character building experience for a lot of people,” McGregor said. “(We have) real youth. Four or five guys their main goal was to make first grade and they played most of the year in first grade, and we finished in the second week of the finals series.”
The Dragons shocked many winning eight of their opening nine games before falling into a post-Origin hole.
They limped into the finals after suffering heavy defeats from the lowly ranked Parramatta and Canterbury before rebounding to shock Brisbane last week.
“If you go back and look at the year every team is going to have a period where they are not playing well. Every team has done that. The top eight teams have done less of that.
“Ours was at the back end of the year after a pretty heavy load through that middle third with the Origin players that had in there. With the type of footy we played in the first 10-12 weeks, there has to be a drop somewhere. You can’t sustain it week in week out.
“We had a process in origin time. We’ll review that.”
The Dragons roster remains largely in tact next season. Veteran Nightingale retires while Leeson Ah Mau will join the Warriors, with Korbin Sims joining his brother Tariq at the club.
Meanwhile, McGregor questioned a crucial penalty against Cameron McInnes when the Dragons hooker threw the ball deliberately into Cameron Murray who was laying in the ruck. Earlier this season, McInnes was the first player penalised when the rule was changed midway through the year.
“A big call,” McGregor said. “The pass was in line with someone who was going to the ball which was Jack. He passed it flat. I would say play on.”