Dragons unfazed by speculation over Griffin's coaching future: Bird

Having conceded 86 points in two tepid outings against the Broncos and Roosters, the Dragons risked falling out of the top-eight race with a loss to the Sea Eagles, responding with a 20-6 victory at Kogarah.

It will ease the pressure on Griffin in the interim, though the currently 10th-placed Dragons' path to a finals berth remains an uphill one with games against top-three sides North Queensland and Cronulla in the next fortnight.

Falling out of the finals race will renew pressure on Griffin amid reports he's off with sections of his playing group, suggestions Bird has seen no evidence of.

"We all get along with Hook," Bird said.

"[The reports] did surprise me. I didn't even see it in the paper, someone told me about it and asked 'what's going on here?' but we all get along with Hook, we all like playing under him and we're a tight bunch.

"We had a good chat as a group this week and we knew what we had to do to get our season back on track to get back in the top eight and back in contention. If we didn't like playing under Hook, we wouldn't win games and play like that.

"We've been inconsistent, but I've never really seen why teams sack coaches midway through the year. We've seen it with the Bulldogs and the Tigers and stuff, I just think it takes a lot away from your game and the concentration side of things.

"I'm happy to play under Hook and I'm happy that he's staying. I'm not on the board so I don't know [they're thinking] but he's safe for now, I guess. He's our coach, and if we keep winning games then I'm sure he'll stay."

A lot of the whispers surround Griffin's relationship with senior players and perceived favouritism towards his former Broncos players Josh McGuire, Andrew McCullough and skipper Ben Hunt.

Read more: Hunt stars as Dragons steady finals ship with win over Sea Eagles

If it is the case, it's not hard to see why when it comes to Hunt. For so many years the punching bag for Dragons fans due to his hefty pay packet, the 32-year-old is in career-best form hot on the heels of a starring role in Queensland's Origin series victory.

He was in sublime touch again on Friday, scoring a first half double and steering his side to a much-needed win heading into finals crunch-time over the next month.

No stranger to price-tag pressure during his career, Bird is happy to see his captain earn some overdue raps.

"He probably is in career-best form but I think he's been playing good every year so it doesn't really surprise me," Bird said.

"When you get a big pay-check everyone thinks you're just going to go there and win them games all the time but it just doesn't happen. When I was at the Broncos, I signed up there on good money and I got injured, you're not playing games and all of a sudden there's a lot of pressure on you.

"It gets to you and it probably got to him a little bit but, even saying that, he wasn't playing poorly. I thought he was good at the Broncos and I don't think he's been bad at the Dragons either.

"A lot of people don't understand, if the other players aren't going well, you're not going to play well. There's a team of 17 out there, not just one player.

"He must be doing something right because he's playing good footy and the boys are just getting off the back of him. He's coming off an Origin win and on the back of that he's full of confidence. I'm really happy for him [because] he's obviously had a few tough seasons.

"He's leading us around the park and, most games, without him, we probably wouldn't win. He's playing really good footy and he's just got to keep going and pushing the other boys around him."

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