Dean young

[Zen]

I like what Fien has done with the Dolphins attack. It's all well and good to say "oh he has Cobbo, Farnworth, Hammer etc" and yeah all of these are able to produce magic from nothing... but to truly succeed over the season you need a consistent and, importantly, repeatable structure to your offense. What I think Fien identified (and I've heard him mention this in interviews) which really unlocked the potency of the Dolphins attack, was the importance and talents of a good ballplaying middle. Plath and Donoghoe were such underrated factors in that team. Excited to see what Fien and Young can do with Connor Watson next year and then Hamish Stewart when he eventually takes over.

 

[Dave03]

I like what Fien has done with the Dolphins attack. It's all well and good to say "oh he has Cobbo, Farnworth, Hammer etc" and yeah all of these are able to produce magic from nothing... but to truly succeed over the season you need a consistent and, importantly, repeatable structure to your offense. What I think Fien identified (and I've heard him mention this in interviews) which really unlocked the potency of the Dolphins attack, was the importance and talents of a good ballplaying middle. Plath and Donoghoe were such underrated factors in that team. Excited to see what Fien and Young can do with Connor Watson next year and then Hamish Stewart when he eventually takes over.

He's also coached Kodi, they'll already have a natural connection. It should be a bit easier to communicate & implement their ideas. It's good we've recruited coaches from successful organisations.

 

[Dave03]

It's clear he's doing it his way & has a clear mindset atm. Whether it's successful, who knows but the younger players have bought into what he's preaching. That's a good start.

 

[RufusRex]

One of the big things the Dolphins did right was bring a young halfback into 1st grade with structure/plan and turn him into an elite talent.
Katoa has to be the blueprint for Reed. If Kodi/Fien were instrumental in that then it will be great for Reeds progression.

 

[TheRev]

I think when Reed came in was our lowest point as a team also (very early deano days, anzac day etc).. we werent playing well at all.. I would have liked to have seen Kade get another few games end of season, that said his injury really limited things, took ages to come good... that said as much as Kyle gets criticised.. we did seem to do better when he was in the halves, obviously he has a pretty hard ceiling on how far he can take us... but as a stop gap he was useful.

Next year its all for Metcalf and Nikorima to run the show.. if we do cop an injury itll be interesting to see who is next up.. like all our young guys, the off-season is their time.. they get heaps of fitness and gym time, they train long periods with 1sts and will genuinely be trying to reinvent the squad.... and if the kids impress @ training, then they put themselves in as first drop for injury cover... compared to the rest of the year where they are really just trying to survive week to week NRL.. minimal training between matches.. minimal time to develop any new skills.. just playing through injury and surviving.. which does tbf get easier after a few years of that routine.

 

[jodragon40]

I like what Fien has done with the Dolphins attack. It's all well and good to say "oh he has Cobbo, Farnworth, Hammer etc" and yeah all of these are able to produce magic from nothing... but to truly succeed over the season you need a consistent and, importantly, repeatable structure to your offense. What I think Fien identified (and I've heard him mention this in interviews) which really unlocked the potency of the Dolphins attack, was the importance and talents of a good ballplaying middle. Plath and Donoghoe were such underrated factors in that team. Excited to see what Fien and Young can do with Connor Watson next year and then Hamish Stewart when he eventually takes over.

Look your right in what you say but you can have the best attacking structures and options but you need the cattle and quality of player to execute it.

What you are referring to with Plath and Donoghoe I use to call pods where you split your forwards into pods within your attacking structures. If the initial execution of your particular structure fails then that structure wont be effective.

I have no doubt our current forwards will be able to successfully execute their individual roles in our structures Im not so sure about our backs being able to do the same.

Fein will earn his stripes if he can get the same success he had with the 1 to 5 at the Dolphins with our 1 to 5. There is a big chasm between the two groups of players. Time will tell, im just speaking from my own personal experiences.

 

[Mug Fan]

Fien, Howlett join Dragons NRL coaching staff for 2027

The St George Illawarra Dragons have bolstered their NRL coaching ranks for 2027, appointing Nathan Fien and David Howlett as assistants to Head Coach Dean Young.

www.dragons.com.au

Official announcement of Fien and Howlett
Plus
The Dragons have also added Matt Chandler (Sport Scientist) and Gurpreet Singh (Athletic Performance Coach), both formerly at the Bulldogs, to their 2027 high-performance staff

 

[RufusRex]

So we recruited the bloke responsible for Mitch Woods hamstrings?
And put him in charge of Luke Metcalf's?
Bold decision Dragons very bold.

 

[TheRev]

we do seem to have quite a few young guys who arent getting on the field.. but no idea if its any more than other clubs have... obv every club gets it share of serious injuries..

 

[Justadragon]

Look your right in what you say but you can have the best attacking structures and options but you need the cattle and quality of player to execute it.

What you are referring to with Plath and Donoghoe I use to call pods where you split your forwards into pods within your attacking structures. If the initial execution of your particular structure fails then that structure wont be effective.

I have no doubt our current forwards will be able to successfully execute their individual roles in our structures Im not so sure about our backs being able to do the same.

Fein will earn his stripes if he can get the same success he had with the 1 to 5 at the Dolphins with our 1 to 5. There is a big chasm between the two groups of players. Time will tell, im just speaking from my own personal experiences.

Our centers will be the problem in our back line.

 

[RandomDragon]

So we recruited the bloke responsible for Mitch Woods hamstrings?
And put him in charge of Luke Metcalf's?
Bold decision Dragons very bold.

to be fair Gurpreet was the pathways performance coach not first grade...

 

[RufusRex]

to be fair Gurpreet was the pathways performance coach not first grade...

So responsible for Woods then through pathways

 

[Mug Fan]

Kiss of death from Bennett for Young

When I told him (Bennett) the news that I was going to leave, he [told me he] rates ‘Youngie’ (Dragons coach Dean Young) and spoke very highly of him.

 

[Eric]

Kiss of death from Bennett for Young

When I told him (Bennett) the news that I was going to leave, he [told me he] rates ‘Youngie’ (Dragons coach Dean Young) and spoke very highly of him.

Behind the facade of the friendly old man, Bennett is a ruthless competitor. It doesn't make me feel any better about Deano as head coach to have Bennett sing his praises.

But it's done now and he obviously gets along with our young forwards so that's a good start. Now he needs to be smart and ruthless himself in order to get the team back to where it belongs (consistently around the top of the table).

 

[Dragon David]

Kiss of death from Bennett for Young

When I told him (Bennett) the news that I was going to leave, he [told me he] rates ‘Youngie’ (Dragons coach Dean Young) and spoke very highly of him.

How many kisses of death has Bennett put on his assistant coaches - Price, Henjak, Demetriou, etc. He did good for Bellamy who was his assistant coach from 1998 - 2002. Also, Kristian Woolf is having success taking over from Bennett at the Dolphins. The fortunate or unfortunate thing with Young is that he was never an assistant for Bennett. But I guess it isn't so much the assistant position as such, it's his praising comments that could cause the death knell.

 

[Close to the Edge]

Kiss of death from Bennett for Young

When I told him (Bennett) the news that I was going to leave, he [told me he] rates ‘Youngie’ (Dragons coach Dean Young) and spoke very highly of him.

I don't give a flying one what Bennett thinks of Young.
Bennett needs to go away and find a bowls club somewhere, prop up the bar and enthrall a bunch of other old has-beens about what a legend he is.
I've seen worse coaches than Young.
Farrar, Mary, Griffin & Flanno for starters...

 

[Morgan]

How many kisses of death has Bennett put on his assistant coaches - Price, Henjak, Demetriou, etc. He did good for Bellamy who was his assistant coach from 1998 - 2002. Also, Kristian Woolf is having success taking over from Bennett at the Dolphins. The fortunate or unfortunate thing with Young is that he was never an assistant for Bennett. But I guess it isn't so much the assistant position as such, it's his praising comments that could cause the death knell.

Kristian Woolf was the assistant on paper but he was already signed on to be coach from before Bennett. The understanding was always that Bennett would move on after 2 or 3 years or whenever it was and Woolf would take over. A bit different from the situation with those others.

I don't give a flying one what Bennett thinks of Young.
Bennett needs to go away and find a bowls club somewhere, prop up the bar and enthrall a bunch of other old has-beens about what a legend he is.
I've seen worse coaches than Young.
Farrar, Mary, Griffin & Flanno for starters...

I agree. He's not the master coach he once was.

 

[Justadragon]

Behind the facade of the friendly old man, Bennett is a ruthless competitor. It doesn't make me feel any better about Deano as head coach to have Bennett sing his praises.

But it's done now and he obviously gets along with our young forwards so that's a good start. Now he needs to be smart and ruthless himself in order to get the team back to where it belongs (consistently around the top of the table).

Lets hope DY can combine well with his AC's with each developing the squad in the best interest of the whole team and club, not in the self interest of one or two players.

 

[Justadragon]

I don't give a flying one what Bennett thinks of Young.
Bennett needs to go away and find a bowls club somewhere, prop up the bar and enthrall a bunch of other old has-beens about what a legend he is.
I've seen worse coaches than Young.
Farrar, Mary, Griffin & Flanno for starters...

DY just needs to be his own man and work with the strengths of the team. But I will never knock Bennett, how many past and current players have you ever heard knocking him. I do agree with your last sentence, but I will be forever grateful for what Bennett did for this club in the time we he was here. One of our biggest ever cockups was not retaining him for at least 5-6 years.

 

[Close to the Edge]

DY just needs to be his own man and work with the strengths of the team. But I will never knock Bennett, how many past and current players have you ever heard knocking him. I do agree with your last sentence, but I will be forever grateful for what Bennett did for this club in the time we he was here. One of our biggest ever cockups was not retaining him for at least 5-6 years.

I appreciate what Bennett did in terms of adding the missing pieces of the puzzle with the squad and instilling belief in the guys. No doubt his players hold him in high regard.
But when he left he seemed to take all the air out of the joint - as well as his backroom staff and some handy players - and things have never been the same since. And I still kinda resent him for that.