If you were looking for an insight into why Anthony Griffin is on borrowed time as Dragons coach, it came in his side's loss to the Cowboys on Saturday night - and it wasn't the 42-22 scoreline.
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Initially brought into the role as a 'development coach' three seasons ago, the knock on Griffin has been a seemingly unwavering devotion to underperforming veterans, while being simultaneously trigger-happy with young players.
Nothing summed that up better than Griffin benching Jayden Sullivan after the youngster was controversially sin-binned midway through the first half with the score locked at six apiece.
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The decision to bite the bullet and start Ben Hunt at hooker in his 300th game looked to have paid early dividends when the skipper put Jack de Belin over or the opening try just two minutes into the game.
It allowed Sullivan to start in the halves where he grabbed two tries against the Tigers last week, but his impact was dulled when he was sin-binned for lingering too long in a covering tackle on a runaway Kyle Feldt.
It was a harsh call given Sullivan was pinned underneath Feldt and unable to roll away, but the harshness paled in comparison to Griffin's decision to leave the 21-year-old on the bench when his 10 minutes expired, opting to burn an interchange and sub in Moses Mbye at hooker.
It saw Hunt shifted back to halfback, but just what Sullivan could have done differently was a mystery to anyone who took half a glance at replays of the sin-binning. Cowboys coach Todd Payten thought as much.
"I watched a replay once and I thought the wrong bloke went to the bin," Payten said.
"My first thought was it should have been [Tyrell] Sloan that should have gone to the bin."
Regardless, it appeared Sullivan wore all the blame in his own camp for the three tries that came through feeble defence in the ensuing seven minutes.
"We were just getting rolled in the middle and [with] Mbye's defence, I thought we needed someone fresh in there and to get Ben out of there," Griffin said post-game.
"He'd done a lot of tackling through that period so [it was] to get him out and back on to the right edge."
Jack Gosiewski crossed first after a break from Scott Drinkwater in the set following Sullivan's marching, with Heilum Luki leaving four defenders in his wake en route to the try-line five minutes later.
When Tom Dearden crossed after a break from Valentine Holmes in the very next set, the match was effectively put to bed at 22-6. Holmes twisted the knife with a two-point field goal on the stroke of halftime and the margin ballooned to 24 when Luki crossed for his second try 11 minutes into the second stanza.
Sullivan remained on the pine, even as the Dragons desperately chased points after getting within 18 following Jaydn Su'A's try with 25 minutes to play.
Even when Mikaele Ravalawa scooped up a Cowboys error and raced 80 metres to draw his side within 14, fill-in goal-kicker Jack Bird's attempt at the extras didn't go close.
For all the talk of re-built bridges, it's not hard to see why Sullivan and Tyrell Sloan, dropped twice last season, have felt unwanted by the coach at different times. It's probably something Zac Lomax, still waiting for answers over his axing ahead of last weekend, can relate to.
As far as Saturday's contest, Sullivan's benching did nothing to get the Dragons closer to victory in Hunt's 300th. There's no player more deserving of a victory in such a milestone game, but he couldn't even get a consolation try in the first half rubber-stamped, with Josh Kerr pinged for stopping in the Cowboys defensive line in the lead-up.
"We gave ourselves a chance to get into the game, and we did that, and it was just too much simple dropped ball. I think they scored two or three tries straight off of our errors," Griffin said.
"[We had] a player in the bin, they get two or three tries and it just wasn't how we wanted to play and just loose with the ball. It's disappointing, just the way we played.
"The last five [games] we played some really good footy but, tonight, our execution was nowhere near where it needed to be. That was the whole, crux of the game.
"I thought if we executed better, and were just a little bit more patient, we were going to get our chance to win the game through the 80 minutes, but we just never gave ourselves a chance."
The Dragons will now head back to Kogarah to take on the Roosters next weekend to be greeted by a planned protest from a section of their own fans calling for the coach to be sacked. Whether the board pre-empts it remains to be seen, but it seems presently more focused on its courtship of Jason Ryles.
To rub further salt in the wound, Cowboys hooker Reece Robson did his NSW selection chances no harm as he carved his former club up through the middle of the park throughout Saturday's clash.
Hunt's shift to start at hooker looked the goods early when he darted out from dummy-half and put de Belin over under the black dot for the opening try and a 6-0 lead.
The Cowboys found the hit back when an offload from Cohen Hess and short ball from Jordan McLean put Chad Townsend into the back field, with his kick through sitting up neatly for Feldt in the Dragons in-goal.
In a remarkable turn, the Cowboys spun a short dropout into a 70-metre dash upfield from Feldt, with Sullivan sin-binned after dragging him down in cover.
The Cowboys took quick advantage through Gosiewski after Drinkwater stood up Moses Suli on the Dragons right edge.
There was no stopping Heilum Luki when he left four defenders in his wake on his way to the try-line for his side's third four-pointer, with Dearden crossing off a break from Holmes a set later.
Hunt crossed from close range but had the try taken off him when replays showed Josh Kerr stopping in the Cowboys line, with Holmes rubbing salt in the wound with a two-point drop-goal.
Luki crossed for his second 11 minutes after the resumption to put a comeback beyond reach, though the Dragons tried with a try to Jaydn Su'A off a grubber from Hunt.
Ravalawa gave his side the slightest sniff when he went coast to coast on a Cowboys fumble, but the resistance folded when Bird coughed up a long ball from Hunt directly into the arms of Feldt for one of the easier tries of his career.
Suli crossed for his first try of the year, but subsequently gifted Dearden his second try when he spilled the ball at his own end with less than a minute to play. It was a dismal end to a forgettable outing for the visitors.
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
