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This week, league writer MITCH JENNINGS and sports editor TIM BARROW take a temperature check on St George Illawarra's season as they cling to a top eight spot.
Barrow: Well Jenno, like Ben Hunt making a tackle while clearly not square at marker, the Dragons are clinging to their place in the top eight after the 12-10 win over the Raiders at WIN Stadium on Sunday.
I'm risking making this the shortest Debate column in history, but do they play finals from here?
They have the Broncos, Roosters, Sea Eagles, Cowboys, Sharks, Raiders again, Titans, Tigers and Brisbane again in the run home and with an 8-7 record, history suggests they may only need to win four of those games to make it.
Jennings: I've got to say I'm far from convinced Baz.
Let's be frank, Graham Annesley said yesterday Ben Hunt could've been sin-binned three times in 10 seconds and at the end of the game on Sunday and the Raiders would've levelled up from in front. They got away with it, but fully turning a corner, I'm not sure.
The first 40 in the win over the Rabbitohs was outstanding, but to be fair Souths were awful and that's the only win the Dragons have over a team currently in the top eight this season.
The way I see it, they're in a four-way race for the two spots at the bottom of the eight with the Rabbitohs, Roosters and Sea Eagles. The latter two have the bye this week and they all have comparable runs home, the Roosters probably the toughest.
As you say, if you go with 12 wins as the typical finals baseline it's well within reach, but the Dragons for-and-against (-70) is atrocious compared to those other three sides, so I reckon they'll need to win five of their last nine to guarantee a spot.
After Brisbane this week, they've got the Sea Eagles and Roosters in consecutive weeks in rounds 18-19.
Then the Roosters and Sea Eagles play each other in round 20 as well so that's a make-or-break stretch for all three sides.
Beyond that they've got the Broncos, Cowboys and Sharks, on the run home but they've got very winnable ones against the Raiders, Titans and Tigers in three of their last four.
It's very doable, but if you had an Alex Volaknovski fist to my head I'm still slightly leaning towards no.
I'll very happily be proven wrong, but to throw one back at ya, is reaching the eight the only way you'll give them a pass mark in year two of the Griffin tenure?
Would it be enough to extend his contract?
Barrow: I was supportive of the decision to extend his contract early this year and give Griffin the breathing room to develop his plans.
There's been some chopping and changing along the way, but Talatau Amone has a bright future at five-eighth and Cody Ramsey has settled the fullback argument in the short-term at least.
But there is a lot of pressure on the Dragons board next year if the team is sitting at 5-5 after 10 rounds. They'll have had enough time to back Griffin or otherwise by then.
At the very least Griffin should be making the finals this year and inside the top eight next year before they agree to extend his contract, otherwise they should be looking elsewhere.
With the Tigers and Bulldogs already looking for new coaches, the Dolphins chasing every player on the market and pressure on Justin Holbrook at the Titans and Adam O'Brien at the Knights, St George Illawarra will have to be very strategic about their decision on a coach for 2024.
At the same time, the gap between the Panthers and the average teams is only growing.
You just know the Storm will challenge at the right time and North Queensland, with Dragons premiership player Dean Young as an assistant coach, are doing an amazing job this year, but can anyone stop Penrith?
Jennings: I'm with you on the pre-emptive call to give Hook this year, but strictly speaking the club took up its option on the final year of a three-year deal.
He's genuinely off-contract this time around and you can't give any coach a one-year extension these days. The lack of confidence it shows undermines a coach too much.
I think finals would be a pass mark for the Dragons, but I'm always wary of using a top-eight finish as a measuring stick. Not all top-eight finishes are created equal.
You mentioned Holbrook and O'Brien, they both scraped into the eight last year (the Titans were 10-14) but they are the two coaches currently on the chopping block less than a season later.
People picked the Titans in particular to kick on this year and they've gone a long way backwards.
As to challenging Penrith - hard to see any team but a healthy Melbourne knocking them off and it's a bit of a role-reversal. Melbourne only lost three games all season last year defending their 2020 title and still fumbled it in the prelim.
They're the usual suspects, who of the others is most likely to upset that duopoly?
Barrow: How can you not be impressed by the Cowboys. Todd Payten and Young have developed them into more than a competitive force, they have the ability to really challenge and frustrate the Storm and Panthers.
Their style will stand up in the finals spotlight.
The only other serious hope for me is the Sharks. Their ball use in atrocious conditions on Saturday against the Bulldogs was outstanding.
And of course they should be beating the Bulldogs if they want to finish top four and win a premiership, but they have the pieces there in Nicho Hynes, William Kennedy, Sione Katoa and Dale Finucane to make a grand final.
Back to the Hunt foul play against the Raiders, do we need to change the rule around ruck infringements? Should they be penalties and only call six-again for offside?
Jennings: I tell ya what, I was in Ricky Stuart's presser on Sunday and I'm amazed we didn't see a blow-up of 'there's gotta be an investigation' proportions.
It's astounding to hear Benny could have been, not only penalised, but sin-binned, three times in the one sequence.
Look, it should be noted that the final infringement (Hunt being not square at marker) wasn't called a six-again, the referee incorrectly deemed it a legal play.
I know I'm probably opening a fresh can of worms but maybe you could eliminate six-agains in the final five minutes of games?
It sounds dramatic but plenty of professional sports have different rules down the stretch of games to ensure we don't see exactly the type of thing we did on Sunday.
The other option, and it would be pretty simple, would be to eliminate consecutive six-agains anywhere on the park.
If that's deemed too complicated, I'd probably get rid of it altogether but stick with the one referee.
I liked it in the beginning but, like all good rule changes aimed at eliminating wrestling in our game, coaches have found a way to impose slow-down methods on it. That's what I find the hardest to cop about the whole argument.
Coaches are the first to whinge about constant rule changes that only come about due to their own consistent efforts to exploit existing rules.
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