Coach from 2027

Dragons Chris said:

Bennett didn't "attract" many. He brought in several but they were on the outer at their clubs. Gaz was really the only one who was in demand.

Click to expand...

Dragon David said:

To support your post Chris (which I have googled) -

"During his tenure as head coach of the St George Illawarra Dragons from 2009 to 2011, Wayne Bennett reshaped the roster, bringing in several key players who were instrumental in the club's 2010 premiership success.
His key signings and recruits included:

• Darius Boyd: Brought over from the Brisbane Broncos to play fullback, becoming a pivotal part of the 2010 premiership team.
• Michael Weyman: Recruited from the Canberra Raiders to strengthen the front row.
• Jeremy Smith: A New Zealand international forward signed from the Melbourne Storm to add toughness.
• Nathan Fien: A hooker/halfback signed to add experience and versatility.
• Neville Costigan: A forward who followed Bennett from the Broncos to the Dragons.
• Ryan Hinchcliffe: Signed for the 2009 season.
• Luke Priddis: Joined from the Panthers for the 2009 season.
• Adam Cuthbertson: A forward who joined during the perio

Key Personnel Note:
Mark Gasnier: While not an external club signing, Bennett's influence was key in securing his return to the club from rugby union in 2010.
These additions helped the Dragons win the minor premiership in 2009 and 2010, and the club's first NRL premiership as a joint venture in 2010."

So while Bennett as we know has superior coaching skills, because of his skills he didn't need to sign marquee players to get us winning games including our only joint venture grand final victory. He was able to identify who we needed that had all the attributes to help bring success to the club and Bennett did not "overpay" to secure these guys.

If we can sign a coach that can identify exactly what type of players we need and is able to manage them like Bennett can then maybe we have a chance of success in the future.

Click to expand...

jodragon40 said:

Ok if you read my post I was asking was it Bennett not it was. So who was it? Any ideas? Im bereft of any names. Believe me in my humble view unless we do hire the right coach who has this ability we are not going to provide a competitive top 8 team any time soon. Just my views

Click to expand...

Morgan said:

I believe what happened was that there was the period where Roosters and Melbourne were dominating the competition. They didn't win every year but were up there constantly, for it must have been almost a decade before the 'Penrith era'. During this time, the Dragons decided the idea of spending a lot of money on juniors was obsolete. So they went away from that and lost a lot of guys like Bostock, Saab, Garrick, Robson and more. Not AFB who was let go for pleading guilty to beating his GF.

Then when Penrith started dominating with all their juniors, locals and recruits from all over the state, it took a couple of years for our geniuses who do strategic planning, or lack of, to decide that is the right model. Now we are just starting to see the benefits of this but won't be for another 2 or 3 years before it really kicks in. I mean, now it's a drip with guys like Halangahu and LPT, even some of Egan, Reed, Couchman's and Stewart may have been let go previously, but in 3 years it'll become a flood.

None of the pathways teams are basket cases and given we have 2 in each competition until Flegg, speaking for myself, I see reason for optimism.

Click to expand...

Morgan said:

I believe what happened was that there was the period where Roosters and Melbourne were dominating the competition. They didn't win every year but were up there constantly, for it must have been almost a decade before the 'Penrith era'. During this time, the Dragons decided the idea of spending a lot of money on juniors was obsolete. So they went away from that and lost a lot of guys like Bostock, Saab, Garrick, Robson and more. Not AFB who was let go for pleading guilty to beating his GF.

Then when Penrith started dominating with all their juniors, locals and recruits from all over the state, it took a couple of years for our geniuses who do strategic planning, or lack of, to decide that is the right model. Now we are just starting to see the benefits of this but won't be for another 2 or 3 years before it really kicks in. I mean, now it's a drip with guys like Halangahu and LPT, even some of Egan, Reed, Couchman's and Stewart may have been let go previously, but in 3 years it'll become a flood.

None of the pathways teams are basket cases and given we have 2 in each competition until Flegg, speaking for myself, I see reason for optimism.

Click to expand...

Dragon David said:

So it is a matter of hoping to secure the right Head Coach fulltime then us being patient for a few years until all the juniors have become more mature and better players as it happened at Penrith?

Click to expand...

Morgan said:

A lot of work needs to be done and as Melbourne are now showing, no team is up there every year no matter who the coach is. But IMO the pieces are in place for sustained success in the near future. That doesn't mean winning the premiership every year but making the finals most years which will automatically bring about premiership success some years. We aren't the Sharks after all. We strive for more than just making the finals.

This might be the year we needed to have. A couple of years under Griffin we barely missed the finals then in both Flanno's years, we burned out badly at the back-end of the year. One can understand the idea 'we are almost there' being held by those in charge. Now we are beginning to see real change. DA was recruited last year and he has a brilliant track record. Now Haran and Flanno are gone with his deadwood recruits gone by the end of next year at the latest.

IMO just have to see out this year then we can look forward to better days.

Click to expand...

Dragon David said:

So it is a matter of hoping to secure the right Head Coach fulltime then us being patient for a few years until all the juniors have become more mature and better players as it happened at Penrith?

Click to expand...