Editorial
Last time we checked coaches don't throw forward passes. They don't miss tackles or drop balls. Yet ultimately they often pay the highest price.
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When news filtered out of a board meeting of the St Goerge Illawarra Dragons had been brought forward on Tuesday, most expected Dragons coach Paul McGregor to pay the ultimate price after his side's season went from bad to worse with a train wreck of a loss against the Bulldogs on Monday.
"Although the board acknowledges the club's performances so far throughout 2020 have been unacceptable; we will continue to support Paul, his staff and the team through these tough times," Dragons Chairman Andrew Gordon said in a statement released on Tuesday.
"We are committed to Paul as coach of the St George Illawarra Dragons and look forward to seeing him right the wrongs of the opening month of the current campaign."
The statement will do little to appease the many Dragons fans who have been baying for blood over the side's dismal performances.
Yet for the board to sack the coach the club would have had to pay out a significant contract and many suspect it will be up to McGregor to fight his way out or fall on his own sword.
Yet if McGregor did or does have the support of the playing group then very little of those players showed it by the way they played at the weekend.
Actions always speak louder than words and the lack of action was the thing most alarming across the past two weeks for the region's NRL side.
Read more: UOW it is time to listen to your staff
Certainly McGregor is sticking by his players. He would have had every right to stick a couple of high profile players on the sidelines given that performance at the weekend, but he has stuck by them at the selection table.
Will his faith be repaid? Only time will tell.
Certainly there it talk of divisions within the Dragons playing group. Those whispers are turning into a dull roar.
And they won't go away until something changes on the field or of it.
Something has to give.
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