Welcome to our column, The Debate, where the Mercury sport team discuss the big issues in Illawarra, national and international sport. This week, sports editor TIM BARROW and league writer MITCH JENNINGS discuss the new-look Dragons improving finals prospects and Dean Pay walking away as coach at Canterbury. St George Illawarra tackle the Bulldogs in the first NRL game to be played at WIN Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
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Barrow: Well Jenno, back from the brink, the Dragons suddenly have found some spark since the introduction of Adam Clune and Ben Hunt's shift to hooker, with Cameron McInnes starting at lock in the big win over Manly. Matt Dufty has developed a passing game. Suddenly, if they beat the Bulldogs in Wollongong they're, dare I say it, right back in the finals mix. Can this reshuffle stand up when it matters later in the season?
Jennings: It's a little bit full circle coming up against the Dogs again because their last meeting was pretty much rock bottom. The board came out and backed Paul McGregor and they've gone 3-2 since. I think the only poor performance in that time was against the Raiders, but they bounced back well against the Sea Eagles.
You don't want to get carried away but I honestly think Ben Hunt starting at nine was a revelation. When he was coming off the bench he still seemed torn over what his role was but being given 80 minutes there let him throw himself into things from the get-go. They absolutely should beat the Dogs this week and after that they have some winnable games against the Sharks and Rabbitohs.
It's a good chance to build some confidence in those combinations before consecutive games against the Roosters and Eels. I guess the question is have they left themselves too much to do?
Barrow: Indeed, they probably have. And I know Manly have their own issues, with Tom Trbojevic out injured, but it had seemed the Dragons were simply incapable of scoring 34 points in a game like they did against the Sea Eagles.
Clune is starting to put his own stamp on the team now too, he's found his feet and starting to create tries and attacking opportunities.
He's developing into much more than a halfback that directs traffic and allows Hunt to play more freely.
It's a remarkable contrast to the Dragons who were bereft of confidence or ideas against the Dogs six weeks ago. Back then it looked like Paul McGregor's job was on the line, but instead Dean Pay has walked away as Canterbury coach after their awful performance against Brisbane.
What do you make of the Bulldogs situation? Can the Dragons expect a backlash on Saturday?
Jennings: It's a persistent rugby league myth that if you sack a coach the team wins the next week but it's overwhelmingly not the case.
The Dragons absolutely should win and win well. If you look back to that game in round four, I think the board backing Mary the next day has been a bit of a turning point.
It was a pragmatic approach, it didn't appease fans, but I think it's had a positive impact. The players knew the coach wasn't going anywhere and the focus was going to shift to their performance. If you look at the Dean Pay situation, the constant speculation about his future hasn't helped the Dogs one iota.
It's ironic when you look at it, the Warriors and Dogs looked to have hammered the final nail but have ultimately sacked their coaches while the Dragons backed theirs. The Dogs haven't won a game since that day and the Warriors went 2-4 and lost their coach. I know the circumstances, rosters and all the rest are different but my point is, sacking or undermining the coach hasn't helped their situation.
I know you're a Dogs man Baz, what do you make of Dean Pay's treatment? I think 'family club' have treated one of their own appallingly.
Barrow: The club is in a disastrous state.
Even taking the politics out of it, Pay was employed to see the Bulldogs through the salary cap mess and start rebuilding when the opportunity came to chase some key signings. Instead he's walked away at their lowest ebb, when there has been little public support from anyone involved at the club.
For all the criticism of McGregor, the Dragons have at least handled the pressure in a professional manner. But something had to change at Canterbury and it usually is the coach who cops it. They're conceding way too many metres in defence, as if to try and manage their way through sets without conceding a six-again tackle infringement restart, but it leaves them struggling to get into the contest before even discussing their directionless attack.
They're not the Dogs Of War, though English forward Luke Thompson looks a great buy, they're not The Entertainers of the early 1980s and they're making a joke of the 'family club' status which Bulldogs fans pride themselves on. They stand for nothing.
Whoever comes in as coach needs to have a mighty big broom to clean up the mess. I guess we'd better at least enjoy Saturday's game at WIN Stadium, it could be the only one in Wollongong this year if the NRL is forced to take the entire competition to Queensland amid the Covid-19 crisis and outbreaks in NSW. Do you think there's any threat to getting through the season?
Jennings: Yeah, concerning development indeed. Peter V'landys has already said he has the planes at the ready to move it there so I think one way or another we'll see the season play out. Whether crowds get back... I highly doubt it. I've heard a lot of the experts say complacency is the enemy and I think we're getting a harsh lesson in that, particularly south of the border.
I think it's really something people should keep in mind when it comes to incidents like those concerning Charlie Staines and Stefano Utoikamanu over the weekend.
They're both young blokes who showed naivety more than anything else. Sanctions may seem heavy-handed but it's the price of having the game up and running. If we want to get to the finish line, the game needs to be hyper vigilant.