Jack De Belin has vowed to take the pressure off coach Anthony Griffin and reignite St George Illawarra Dragons' finals chances by beating Manly this Friday night.
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The veteran forward's stance comes after what was a dreadful weekend for the Dragons.
Not only did St George Illawarra get thumped by the Sydney Roosters, other teams in the mix for the top eight also won their matches.
The Dragons were in ninth place before the Roosters loss but now head into the Netstrata Jubilee Stadium stoush against the Sea Eagles in 11th place.
The Roosters and Canberra Raiders, who beat the Melbourne Storm, leapfrogged the Dragons into ninth and 10th place respectively.
De Belin was not backing away from the importance of beating the eighth-placed Manly.
'It is a crucial game for us to win," he said. "Pretty much every game from here on out is a crucial game for us.
Pretty much every game from here on out is a crucial game for us.
- Jack De Belin
"If you look on the weekend a few teams around us got wins so it has kind of made things a little bit more difficult but nothing ever good is easy to achieve so we have got a lot of tough work to do.
"The loss on the weekend was bitterly disappointing. To turn up with that performance after the Broncos game is very disappointing and not good enough to be frank."
The Sydney Morning Herald reported pressure is mounting on Griffin ahead of a crunch board meeting on Tuesday, following back-to-back losses to the Broncos and Roosters conceding 86 points in the last fortnight.
There are reportedly sections of the Dragons dressing room who do not agree with parts of Griffin's coaching methodology.
De Belin was aware of the reports but said players could not control speculation surrounding coaches.
"It's a results business. All that chitter-chatter and speculation about coaching and certain players, that only comes off poor performances and not winning," he said.
"The only way to stop that is simply by winning. As players we can sort that."
Having missed more than two years of football during his prime and coming to the back end of his career, the 31-year-old "realist" conceded time was running out to play finals football.
"I still have belief we can this year but I'm a realist, I'm at the back end of my career now, so every season/game for me now is pretty much do or die to make the grade," De Belin said.
He has been truly magnificent. [Hunt] is the heart and soul of the club.
- Jack De Belin
"The story of our season has been win a couple and then lose a couple, then have a couple of good performances and some bad ones, that has probably been the most frustrating thing.
"You can cop losing but when you are losing by blowouts or games you are not really in, that's the frustrating part.
"We've got a chance to turn things around against a very good Manly side this Friday.
"They have shown they can beat anyone on the day so we need to bring our A-game. We definitely won't be taking them lightly."
De Belin said experienced players like himself had to support Dragons inspirational skipper Ben Hunt for St George Illawarra to have any chance of making the eight.
"He has been truly magnificent. He is the heart and soul of the club," he said.
"I suppose he is a great leader and a few of us other blokes have got to get on the back of him. He has been magnificent Benny Hunt."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
