St George Illawarra officials have made a home for themselves, living between a rock and a hard place in the past decade.
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It's hardly the most comfortable of digs, but it's familiar territory.
They bought themselves time by extending Anthony Griffin's contract last year and now land in the exact same predicament again.
There has been some fierce criticism this week of the decision to tell Griffin they will look at all options, before deciding who is in charge next season.
But what else could they do?
If they start talking to Jason Ryles, Dean Young or Des Hasler wearing trench coats in the corner of darkened car parks, they risk derailing the entire 2023 campaign when someone inevitably shines their headlights on them.
Griffin would then be framed as a dead man walking and perception, most likely, becomes reality.
In truth, Griffin may yet continue on next year.
"Just give poor Anthony Griffin a chance to prove his worth," the immortal Mal Meninga said on SEN Radio this week.
He's had two years to do that and the most promising his tenure has been is winning four of the first five games of the 2021 season and a 32-18 win over the Gold Coast to start this year.
But what if Ryles says no?
Aside from being a great bloke, Ryles other traits include patience, because he's ventured from the Melbourne Storm, to English rugby and the Sydney Roosters without jumping into the head coaching role anywhere.
Why, unless the Dragons are prepared to shake-up their structure and sell him a real vision of premiership success - to go with a $50 million high performance centre coming to Wollongong - would he sign up?
Young and Ben Hornby as a 2010 premiership dream team is an entirely likely prospect, getting the band back together would bring the feel-good factor, but we also know how Dragons fans criticise their own in tough times.
Unless Craig Bellamy decides on an extraordinary sea change to move to the Illawarra, Ryles has to be the priority though.
After an off-season of turmoil, if Griffin can lift the Dragons into the top eight by mid-season when State of Origin kicks off, then what?
This merry dance continues.
The bottom line is, St George Illawarra need to make the best decision, to ensure the club is a genuine premiership contender in the next five years.
That means putting themselves in the shop window for the best available coach with a plan for the future.
The Dragons have shown signs of progress this year, but every game is now becoming a vote on Griffin's future.
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