ROOKIE Dragons halfback Adam Clune says the players will need to take their share of responsibility if the axe falls on coach Paul McGregor.
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The Dragons take on Parramatta on Friday in what some have tipped to be McGregor's last game at the helm ahead of next Tuesday's club board meeting.
Club chief executive Ryan Webb told various outlets this week that the coaching position will be reviewed, with McGregor's side little more than a mathematical chance of featuring the finals.
It's a remarkably similar scenario to the last time the Dragons played at Bankwest Stadium, with a 22-2 loss to the Bulldogs bringing McGregor's tenure to the brink.
He ultimately survived, but the board has seemingly had a re-think now the Dragons have faded out of finals contention with last week's loss to a severely depleted Roosters.
That game against the Dogs was Clune's debut and - despite receiving plenty of personal praise in his nine NRL outings - he said the players will need to put their hand up if McGregor's shown the door.
"I'd definitely feel some [responsibility], I'm sure other players would too. I think you'd have to," Clune said.
"We've got a game plan each week that the coaches give us and it's our job to go out and get results. We've shown when we play our best footy on the weekend we can match it with the best teams, we've just failed to do that consistently over and 80-minute period.
"You look at the best teams in the comp, the teams in the top four, that's the difference. They've been able to put it together for longer periods of time and that's where we've struggled this season unfortunately. It's definitely on us as players there."
Assistant coach Dean Young is tipped to take over in an interim role should the club move on McGregor, while the club is expected to sound out the NRL about the possibility of Shane Flanagan - currently barred from any head caching role until 2022 - being shown some leniency with a view to next season.
Clune said McGregor still has the support of the playing group but they'll just need to roll with it if the board makes a definitive call.
"I think as a professional sportsperson that's your job, whether the coach stays or goes, you need to be able to adjust," Clune said.
"That's the nature of the business sometimes, we've seen it at other clubs this year and plenty of other clubs in the past. That's the way it goes sometimes and, if that happens to be the case, we'll just have to continue to focus on what we do on the field.
"That's out of our hands, we've just got to focus on this week's game against Parramatta. Obviously it's disappointing to have those conversations going on externally but, as a playing group, we fully support Mary.
"This came up earlier in the season and the board decided to keep him on and show faith and nothing's really changed from our perspective. Hopefully Mary stays on board because I've got a really good relationship with him and love playing for him."
McGregor sprung a surprise of sorts on Tuesday in recalling Corey Norman to partner Clune in the halves after dropping the 29-year-old for last week's showdown with the Roosters.
It came amid talk the club was shopping him around, but his return from a one-week exile will see Ben Hunt shift to hooker and McInnes drop back to lock.
Fans have been clamouring for young-gun Tristan Sailor to be given an 80-minute crack in the halves after showing positive glimpses in the last fortnight but he will again start from the bench.
The selection committee has copped criticism for constantly shifting the make-up of the spine, but Clune says it hasn't hampered his game.
"Most of the time when [changes] happen we're aware of it as a spine and as a team so it's not really a shock," Clune said.
"As cliched as it sounds I just focus on my own role and trying to nail that because whoever's there at five-eighth or hooker is there focusing on their role. I'm comfortable whoever's playing there.
"I'm just trying to nail my role and I think everyone can focus on getting their job right that'll benefit the team and, therefore, the coach as well."
In other news on Tuesday the Dragons look set to lose resurgent centre Euan Aitken, with the 25-year-old reportedly agreeing to a three-year deal with the Warriors.
The Warriors have also been well in the hunt for stood-down Dragons star Jack de Belin, one of Aitken's best mates.