One of the main suggestions that took hold, is that he was off with his players despite being finals-bound. He was a schoolmaster, no nonsense, lacked people skills and all the rest.

Of course it could have simply been people carrying out the dark art of backgrounding, that is, feeding favoured journos stories to justify moving a guy on when there isn't any justifiable basis in football matters. It's precisely what we've seen in recent weeks with John Morris at Cronulla.

Thing is, those rumours and whispers can follow a coach, sometimes to point of ruling them out of future gigs. Griffin had to get some to see past that perception to some degree to get the Dragons job.

Given that fact, while all players are asked the regular questions about a new coach, have taken particular interest in the answers Dragons players have given.

Some are very interesting. Blake Lawrie first piqued Kickoff's interest when we asked what type of conversations he'd had with his new coach.

"I don't talk to Hook too much about footy," Lawrie said.

"I mainly talk to the assistant coaches about footy, Hook's just all about making sure I'm all right. If I need anything outside of football he's always there.

"I've got a good relationship, we don't talk much about footy but if I need something I'll go to Hook and he'll help me fix things.

"He's nice and laidback. He oversees everything and doesn't say too much, but when he does everyone listens. If it's a kick up the bum we react to it, if it's something we've done well we take it on board and get confidence from it."

Don't talk about footy? With your coach? It seems a contradiction, at the very least not something to be taken literally. Some coaches are more enamoured with x's and o's than others, but no footy talk?

"I reckon it's 99 per cent [life] to one per cent where I speak to Hook about footy," Zac Lomax says.

"The best thing about Hook is he's a great fella and person before he's a coach. You can talk to him about anything. Football comes last to him, the person comes first.

"I've clicked really quickly with Hook, I've take so much away from him, more as a person and understanding life in general. Once you cross that stripe at training it's a hundred per cent footy, he brings the best out of you, but it's all about being a good person first.

"We're fortunate enough to be football players but we're people first and foremost.'

Prop-cum-back-rower Josh Kerr has the same view having made a significant positional shift under Griffin. It's something you would expect to see a lot of in-depth conversations, video, line-running... something.

"He knows when to coach you and when to be a mentor to you," Kerr said.

"When we went to Townsville we had a connecting flight in Brisbane and my parents came to airport to see me. He wanted to come down to meet them. He had a good chat with my old man and he does really care about the person you are off the field.

"He is really good like that. He's all for having a laugh at training but he gives you the hard word. He's given me a few hard words, I'll tell you that.

"One of the best things Hook has done for me is make me realise I can a lot of things I thought I couldn't do. Manly was my first 80-minute game and it was crazy. Being a 118 kilos and playing 80 minutes in the back row, I didn't think I'd be able to do that but but I have."

It doesn't sound like a coach who lacks people skills, or one who can't manage personalities, is too hard on his playing group or has them walking on egg shells.

To borrow an oft-used phrase from Griffin himself, it is only early. Could it change? It seemed to at Penrith, at least that's what the anonymous back-grounders had to say.

Lawrie has 63 games to his name. Lomax and Kerr are yet to play 50 and all are under the age of 25. What would you expect them to say right?

It is enough to wonder, given what we've heard, is the remaking of the man, or simply the re-shaping. Corey Norman, who came through the Broncos NYC ranks to the NRL under a Griffin a decade ago, tends to think the latter.

"That's just Hook, he wants to know his players on a personal level," Norman says when told of his teammates' take on the coach.

"He's always been like that, but he's lot more chilled now compared to what he was back in the day. He's learned his lessons over a few coaching gigs he's had as well and he's been honest with us about that as well.

"Having genuine open honest chats like that is really good. It just gets back to Hook knowing his players on a personal level. You feel comfortable with him. He's actually pretty funny, he's got some good one-liners.

"When we're floating around off the field you can have a laugh with him and talk to him about anything. On the field, though, everyone zones in and listens to him."

Indeed it is only early, but the stories are at odds with a reputation Griffin rightly or wrongly carries. It does beg the question... is there an almighty spray, or more, coming?

"He might be saving them up, he could have one or two coming," Lawrie says.

"He's had one or two at training but for the most part he's been relaxed and it's working so I don't think it'll change any time soon."