Throughout the 2023 season, the St. George Illawarra Dragons lurched from one catastrophe to the next, and as the off-season progresses, many questions remain unresolved.
In addition to having numerous off-field problems and statements, the Red V had a season marked by the dismissal of a coach, another missed finals, and a captain’s request for a release.
It was a difficult season for the club’s supporters, and although Shane Flanagan’s hiring has given them hope for the future, the board, which is under intense pressure from a fan base that doesn’t tolerate failure, needs to reflect in order to make sure that the same mistakes aren’t made again.
A pre-season dismissal that happened in the middle of the season
This all started at the beginning of the 2022 season when the Dragons’ board decided to exercise an option that would have kept Anthony Griffin as the team’s manager through 2023, thus perpetuating past errors.
The Dragons extended Paul McGregor’s contract unusually early in a season when he wasn’t scoring runs and there were no teams vying for him.
That was an extremely bad move.
Therefore, from the center of Kogarah, you could see the eye roll on the Wollongong hill when the Dragons accepted Griffin’s option following one season that was much below average and a season in which no balls were kicked.
2022 was proof positive that it was, in fact, the wrong decision. 2023 began just as disastrously as it had ended. Despite Ben Hunt’s remarks about his own future if Griffin was awarded the punt, the team appeared to have given up and had no intention of playing for Griffin.
When Griffin was fired by the team in the middle of the season, the band-aid was ultimately removed, but this was a preseason decision that ought to have been made without worrying about a contract option.
In the end, the 2023 season was also ruined by a decision made at the beginning of 2022 by a board that was unwilling to learn from its previous failures.
There is disagreement over how long the joint venture will need to heal from Griffin’s three-year stint, even with the roster adjustments Shane Flanagan has already been able to make for 2024.
Early prospects are ruined by a crazy hooking issue and a horrible center move.
Remaining on the coaching theme, it could be argued that the Dragons lost competition points and actual results as a result of some of the season’s biggest mysteries.
It was puzzling, to put it mildly, that Jacob Liddle was flatly refused more playing time than Moses Mbye.
The Dragons were a much better team with Liddle on the field than Mbye, according to Zero Tackle data early in the season, but the off-season addition didn’t get the bulk of the playing time at dummy half until after Griffin’s departure.
With Liddle on, the Dragons found an advantage in both attack and defense; it wasn’t simply one end of the park. On Anzac Day, things reached a breaking point.
LINKED: Our assessment from April 27
Then there were the problems with Zac Lomax and Moses Suli changing sides. That culminated when Griffin eventually dropped Lomax, only for interim coach Ryan Carr to call him back.
When both players were on the wrong side of the park, they regressed in nearly every statistical category.
In the end, both decisions were illogical and probably decided the Dragons’ destiny for 2023.
