THE DEBATE: Where to now for lacklustre Dragons

Jenno: Well Darnell, it was only a fortnight ago we sat in this exact spot hoping we wouldn't be having this conversation but...what about them Dragons? Fans waited a long time for footy to come back and they have every right to feel aggrieved after their side's return performance.

I don't think any of us completely discounted a Warriors boilover, but to be held to zip by a team that's gone through everything those Kiwi boys have is pretty inexcusable. Naturally it's amped up the pressure on Paul McGregor and some of his under-performing stars. We'll get to that, but what did you make of the performance?

Mee: It was extremely disappointing. The Warriors were superb and it's incredibly difficult to defeat a team that completes 45 from 47 sets, but the Dragons didn't put their opponents under any pressure. Part of the reason the Warriors had such a high completion rate was because of St George Illawarra's poor performance.

There were some promising early signs from the Dragons, but it all fell apart far too quickly. Despite the lengthy break due to coronavirus, there was no fire, no punch, no desire. The players just looked like they were going through the motions at times.

The first two losses were defendable, St George Illawarra were in a position to win both games and just couldn't seal the deal. This match was different. From the moment Matt Dufty fumbled that grubber, allowing Jamayne Taunoa-Brown to score, the Dragons never looked like winning on Saturday.

It's a team effort, but do Ben Hunt and Corey Norman deserve to shoulder the bulk of the blame?

Jenno: The short answer is yes. I hate to say it because I think it's typically all too easy to blame halves after a loss. Benny in particular has copped a mountain of criticism in the past, not all of it warranted, but I don't think you can avoid it after that performance.

It wasn't 45/47, but the Dragons completed at above 80 per cent and got up the park into good positions enough times, but they never really tested the Warriors line at all. Part of the reason the Warriors completed so highly was that they weren't getting any juice sucked out of them defensively. That comes down to the guys pulling the attacking strings.

To hand the ball over on the last tackle four times without finding a kick in is indefensible. I know coaches in the Illawarra League that would hook their halves for that. I think they have to wear it, but Mary's certainly copped the most of it. Speculation about his future is nothing new, but it doesn't look all that rosy does it?

Mee: He's certainly running out of time to turn things around. The two-year contract extension provides him with a bit of extra security, finances are understandably tight at this point in time, but the public pressure is only growing.

The numbers under Mary don't make for pretty viewing for Dragons fans. Two finals appearances in five years, a winning rate of just 46 per cent. Apart from a few successful stretches, particularly the first half of 2018, the side just hasn't really clicked under McGregor. It's a complicated situation, the players like him, they back him, but with the pressure on their coach, they haven't produced the performances to show this.

The problems the Dragons have can't be solved by simply sacking the coach, but it's also becoming clearer that McGregor isn't the man to solve those problems.

Jenno: I think you're right about the players and their performances. I never really read too much into players' reactions in the immediate aftermath to a game, but I didn't like what I saw on Saturday, and I'm not talking about the huddle where they thanked the Warriors for what they've done to ensure the competition got up. That was all class, but there was a lot of laughing and back-slapping going on when the siren sounded.

I think players know, as much as anyone, the pressure their coach is under. By now they know, however poorly they perform, the coach is going to cop the flak; they also have the game's biggest fall-guy in Hunt there as well. It gives them an out. Brad Fittler and Gorden Tallis both said as much over the weekend.

It's easy to say sack the coach but let me ask you this - what would sacking Mary in the next fortnight achieve? I think that's a question the board needs to ask itself.

Mee: There's two ways it could play out. The first is the Utopian future many Dragons fans think lies ahead, which sees a master coach come in and immediately turn the side into a premiership force. If we're being realistic, that's highly unlikely and if you look at Wayne Bennett, he won the side a premiership, but also left the club in a terrible state when he departed.

The second scenario sees McGregor replaced with a coach who inherits the current team, suffers a few losses and immediately the fans start calling for his head. Or, if Dean Young gets the top job, fans would be outraged before he even coached a game. In that sense, firing McGregor wouldn't achieve anything, we'd just have a new figure to cop the brunt of the fans' anger. As I said earlier, I'm reaching the point where I feel Mary isn't going to be able to turn the club around. The next man might not be able to do so, but we won't know until we try.

In the short term, sacking Mary will appease the fans. In the long term, it's a waste of time if they don't replace him with a coach capable of building a platform for sustained success. Bennett is not that man. Which leaves the question, do you think there's a candidate that could do a better job than Mary is doing right now?

Jenno: Look, that's my point. Two weeks ago, we both said we'd put a line through the Dragons as finals contenders if they weren't 2-2 after four rounds. I'm not about to change my mind on last week's performance.

We're now three rounds into a shortened 20-round competition. From 0-3 with only tougher matches to come down the track, any coach coming in and sparking a finals run seems highly unlikely. If they sack and pay out Mary for this year, they'd in all likelihood be paying two coaches to miss the finals. Wayne Bennett's been linked to a return but he's not coming this year and, as you say, there's questions over whether he's the right guy for this particular task.

There's talk Shane Flanagan might get his head-coaching ban reduced but I think that's unlikely to happen this year. As you said, Dean Young would be an interim option but that would do nothing to cool the jets of a large section of fans, though many might like to see it Flanagan acts as a pseudo co-coach.

I guess the one consideration people might have in wanting to move imminently is, with something like 11 players off-contract and Tyson Frizell departing, the Dragons are going to have to be pretty active in the player market. Uncertainty around the coaching situation doesn't help in that regard, but it's harder to quantify than the cold hard cash you'd have to pay a replacement this year. Beyond that, we'll see.

You can understand the fans' anger, you can understand them questioning the wisdom of Mary's two-year extension, but it's hard to see what material change sacking him in the next fortnight would bring other than appeasing a livid fanbase. Whether that's a compelling enough reason - and I'm not saying it's not - is for the board to decide.

A loss to the Bulldogs and/or Titans over the next three weeks and they might not have much of a decision to make at all.

Mee: It's one of the more intriguing matches we've seen between two win-less teams in a while isn't it. Dean Pay is under a tonne of pressure of his own up at Canterbury and we all know how McGregor is feeling right now.

The biggest difference between the Bulldogs and Dragons has been attitude. Pay's side digs in and tries hard with a fairly undermanned roster. St George Illawarra have plenty of talent, but last Saturday that desire to dig in and fight just wasn't there.

If it's not there this weekend, the Bulldogs will be a good chance of pulling off the victory and that would only increase the heat on McGregor.

Let's hope that's not how things pan out on Monday afternoon.