Yes, find it very weird. No options that have been stated anywhere. Just assistant for 2026. Might be killing time to help Flanno out and then become a Head Coach in 2027 at some other club only he and even the Dragons Admin know. Could be Manly.
Might not be a bad thing. Depends on how you look at it. He has a year to prove he is up to the job and the club has a year to show it can have the success an assistant coach needs to gain a promotion to head coach.
Interesting he mentioned 5 young players by name but not LKT. Along with Flanno's bizarre comments a few days ago, does it mean they don't want LKT?
www.foxsports.com.au
He might work well with Ennis. Ennis was talking about how he has a good relationship with Dean Young.Well looks like we have Dean Young for who knows how long now that Justin Holbrook got the Head Coaching job of the Newcastle Knights. Boo Hoo!
Knights’ search for new coach officially over with ex-Wallabies boss to take key role
Knights’ search for new coach officially over with ex-Wallabies boss to take key role
Hehe! Working well with one another is fine but I want Young to work well with the players and that is to get them to defend like they would defend their families and their homes from a gang of bashers and thugs and not let anyone through.
True but I saw a comment the other day. Compared to a number of other teams, Dragons defence wasn't too bad. But I think we can all agree it should have been much better.
Comparisons just do not equate to what we want Ryan. We want a positive for and against rather than a negative one. There were 7 clubs with negative differences on the for and against figures in 2025. Those 7 were of course the bottom 7 on the ladder of which the Dragons was one. The Eels' differential was better than the Dragons but the Dragons' was better than the other 5 teams.
Deano and his boss the head coach need to pull their socks up. Deano first and foremost has to demand from the head coach to stop with the favourtism and pick players on their merits. Not just being a "yes man". But judging from the reserve grade team and the number of young players in it, next year is going to be better.
Agreed. I see Deano being an assistant for a loooong time but I hope that that loooong time isn't with us. We did show great resilience to win some tight games with our defence but not that many throughout 2025 otherwise we would have been further up that ladder.
Is it confirmed Ennis is attack and Deano is defence?
I think so Chris - not 100%. He is replacing Ryan Carr so I should think that Ennis's role will be similar to what Carr did. I cannot see Deano being the attacking coach and Ennis the defensive coach. Flanno oversees everything and discusses issues with the assistants during training and during game time but the assistants virtually coach the guys. Is this how you see it?
Most important is that one or both of them stand up to Flanno when it comes to team selection. Pretty obvious last season that didn't happen unless all 3 are deluded but that can be ruled out by Youngs reputation as an assistant and Carr being promoted to head coach in England.
Yes, I agree. I am sure that Ennis in particular will have a lot to say and stand up to Flanno with the selections of the players on game days. I just cannot trust Deano's abilities to get our players to play 24 rounds in top defensive mode.
With the young pack, the line speed should be much better which will help. But slow backline it looks like being as of now will be a big problem again.
Which ever way you want to look at it Ryan, we had over 600 pts scored against us and scored less than 500 pts, in anyone's book thats a pathetic stat.
There was no way Young was going to get that gig Dave, not against Holbrook, he is a good coach and was shafted at the Titans !!
Yes, Holbrook has had the runs on the board with successful stints in ESL and head coach of the Titans who showed much better performances under him than under Hasler. Being the assistant to Robbo also added a lot more merit on his resume than what Deano has with stints as assistant at the Cowboys and Dragons.
Surely Mcgregor would have taught him to be "comfortable whilst being uncomfortable"