‘It wasn’t their decision and it wasn’t my decision’: Carr opens up on club’s call to sack Griffin

Ryan Carr passed his first test with the media on Thursday morning when he was grilled on his future, some big selection calls and how he plans to use Ben Hunt.

Interim coach Ryan Carr says the decision to recall Zac Lomax and Jacob Liddle was made before Anthony Griffin was sacked.

Interim coach Ryan Carr has shot down questions about his future ambitions ahead of his first game in charge of the Dragons, which features the returns of Zac Lomax and Jacob Liddle from their controversial stints in reserve grade.

Carr replaced Anthony Griffin after the Dragons parted ways with the veteran coach on Tuesday morning following a terrible start to the season.

The Dragons sacked Anthony Griffin after the club managed just two wins from its opening 10 games. Picture: Ian Hitchcock / Getty Images

The former assistant was sad to see his mentor go and didn’t want to go into any detail when pressed on whether he wanted the role long-term, given Jason Ryles is the raging favourite to take over in 2024.

Instead, Carr chose to pay tribute to Griffin, who was sacked after less than three years in charge.

“It’s never nice, especially when a mate has to go through something like that,” he said ahead of Friday’s game against the Roosters.

“As a club and a team, we just have to try and get on with it. We’ve got a job to do tomorrow night, so it’s really important that we just keep focused on that.”

Staying focused might be tricky, given there were a number of players who were very close with Griffin, including captain Ben Hunt, who said earlier in the year he would re-evaluate his future at the club if the coach was sacked.

Ryan Carr held his first press conference on Thursday since taking over as interim coach of the Dragons. Picture: AAP / Dean Lewins

“They don’t really have the answers, the boys,” Carr said.

“It’s not up them; it wasn’t their decision and it wasn’t my decision. It was the club’s decision so we’ve just got to support it and move forward.

“There were a lot of good relationships with Hook. He’s done a lot for those players and the club in his time here and he’s been a good mentor for them.

“There were some good relationships there, so they’ve all got around him and made sure he’s all right, because that’s the most important thing, checking in on him.

“They understand that rugby league is a business now. The game is changing every year and it’s getting bigger and harder.”

The game also changes every week, with Lomax and Liddle recalled to the starting side after they were dropped following the club’s Round 9 loss to the Bulldogs.

Both of them scored tries in NSW Cup last week, with Liddle set to return to the starting side after he was dumped having just signed a contract extension.

It’s unclear whether Hunt will shift to dummy-half at stages on Friday night, but Carr wanted to make it clear the decision to bring back the pair was made long before Griffin was sacked.

Jacob Liddle is back in the No. 9 jersey after spending the past two weeks in reserve grade.

“Team selection gets spoken about well before what happened on Tuesday,” he said.

“These are discussions that were had straight after the game when we played the Cowboys up in Townsville. We’d been planning to bring them back in this week regardless, so it’s not like a whole backflip on everything.

“We’re putting out the 17 players we feel can do the job for the club this week. And then next week, we’ll see what happens.

“These guys had been in the mix all along. Those two boys have done a really good job and had a great attitude going back to Cup, where they did really well on the weekend.

“That’s the message we’re trying to send as a team and as a club – if you play well, then you’re in the team. If you do your job, then you’re in the team, and if you don’t, then we’ll work on some things back in Cup. That’s life and that’s the job we’re in.”