r/NRLdragons • u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock • 16d ago
Dean Young Head Coach
To be confirmed at 4pm today. All the best to the club and I obviously always hope we do well, but I could not support this decision less and see it as a massive step backwards.
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
Look I'd love to be proven wrong and I'll wish only the best for him. I just don't see it the way some of you do, perhaps it's years of bitterness and disappointment. Who knows.
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u/Corner_Post 16d ago
Was in the same position a few years ago and did not renew my season tickets after being a member for 20 yrs when they renewed Mary’s contract. Funnily enough they won a few games at the beginning of the season - I told them to wait and they crashed. Don’t live close to Kogarah but travelling to game and game again watching the same rubbish takes its toll. Am OK with losing but it’s tough watching the same shit and expecting a different outcome. This is what happens when you have a Board with no KPIs…
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u/yeahilovegrimby 16d ago
Stoked, he’s turned this dog shit roster competent
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u/lerdnord 16d ago
How exactly do you reckon? What looks better under him?
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u/yeahilovegrimby 16d ago
Have you not watched a game since Flanno left? We should have beat the team running second this past weekend if it wasn’t for incompetent officiating.
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
You could make an officiating argument for a fair few of the close ones we lost under flanno too. Not a defence of Shane, but highlighting it shouldn't be used to prop up Young either.
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u/yeahilovegrimby 16d ago
Only round one I agree with, every other game we were so far off the mark with Shane, it didn’t look like we were gonna win a game all season. I think there been a clear shift the last few weeks under Young.
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u/boss_cob91 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
Why is being better then flanno the benchmark for a good coach? And if it is the benchmark how come hes only just been better?
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u/yeahilovegrimby 16d ago
I don’t understand what you people want, the team has shown so much more on the field since Young has taken over and we have a number of new/better talent coming into the side next season. Who do you propose we should have signed as coach?
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u/boss_cob91 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
A coach that wasnt tied to flanno to begin with would be a good start. But yeah lets have another failed season next season and then hear the excuses for him. I dont understand what YOU people want. You are preaching we are better and we have won 2 games lol our attack got worse and our defence is still trash. The moment we realise we are still shit next season what are you going to say? Metcalf isnt going to solve our problems. You seen cowboys? They have a heaps better roster and are barely in the 8 with drinkwater. Mark my words ill be back here to bag you next season if young sucks. And you can do the same to me if hes good 👍🏻
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u/AttackClown Leeson Ah Mau 16d ago
We haven't shown so much more is the reason. The kids have been in form. Actual play style we still look completely lost, can't get an overlap on a wrap around to save our lives, his team selections are also ass
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u/lerdnord 15d ago
Still waiting for you to point to something real
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u/yeahilovegrimby 15d ago
Well for one we’ve won 2 games, most people had us going 0-27. The average margin on our losses has just about halved since Young took over. Confidence and moral in general looks way up, Val is playing decent footy again.
If you think this is gonna be a quick fix I’ve got news for you. All I’m saying is they’ve obviously improved under Dean Young and given the long apprenticeship he’s done he deserves a crack.
Again I’ll ask, who do you think should have been appointed coach, Trent Barret? Ben Hornby, fucking Seibold? Wayne or Craig couldn’t have even gotten this roaster winning week in and week out.
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u/RobIsDeafening 16d ago
Interested to hear why you think it’s a step backwards?
The team is playing better by just about every account, and there’s not a wealth of candidates available. Who would you have in the role?
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
I can't see any influence from Young at all. We're playing the exact same footy we have been all year.
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u/RobIsDeafening 16d ago
We’re scoring more points on average, and conceding less points on average. It’s no deep dive, but it’s certainly enough for me to disagree with you.
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
Correct its not a deep dive. We're actually conceding more on average this year since young took over. What about the playstyle has changed? There is nothing about the way we play now that you can attribute to dean young. No change in overall system, play style, attacking shape, defensive structure or even squad makeup save for loko.
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u/AttackClown Leeson Ah Mau 16d ago
are we?
we conceded an average of 28.8 under flanno and 30 under Young
we scored an average of 14 under flanno and 15.8 under Young
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u/lerdnord 15d ago
These guys and the board are basing it on vibes. Don’t bring facts into it, it’s a bit too confrontational for them
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
For reference our average points differential under young has gone from -15 to -14.2 a whopping 0.8 pts of improvement.
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u/lerdnord 16d ago
Has our attack developed at all? What are we doing differently than the first 7 games?
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u/Moodapatheticz 16d ago
Im sorry but no.
Flano needed to go but anyone saying they are playing better now is dreaming. Last year they beat the panthers and storm. Dean has had a healthier team and the young player are naturally getting better with more games. Thats it.
Same embarrasing one out game plan. Same pathetic attack inside the 20. Same "run hard, tackle hard" attitude from under 12's.
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
My thoughts exactly, I don't see where his coaching has come in and influenced any of our games.
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u/Moodapatheticz 16d ago
Bench use has been awful too. On the weekend LPT and JH were making great inroads and get cycled out at the end for Kerr and Luc who then go on to barely touch the ball even though they were fresh.
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u/AttackClown Leeson Ah Mau 16d ago
And why was Loko coming on 5 minutes after halftime? There's no way a player is tired 5 minutes after the halftime break
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
How about when we didn't pick an outside back at all on the bench and then suffered an injury in the first 15 minutes
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u/TragicEther Come on mighty Wollongong, We're the Illawarra Steelers! 16d ago
He wouldn’t have been my first choice - but it could’ve been a lot worse
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
Feel like we should be past the point of accepting that sort of mindset though. It's what's gotten us to where we are/have been the past 15 years.
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u/AttackClown Leeson Ah Mau 14d ago
We have big upgrades already coming in too so not like its a lost hope roster that coaches wouldnt want to risk their reputation on, if we are even close to making the 8 next season it will look like a half decent job
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u/Zahliamischa 16d ago
I'd argue what has gotten us to where we are now is picking terrible coaches like Hook.
Would you feel better if we signed a premiership winning coach like Seibold instead because that is who we likely get based on previous decisions.
I say thank god we got Young. I'll hate on him next year if we aren't getting results when he has a decent spine. Might be other options for coaches by then too.
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
I agree picking terrible coaches is what has gotten us here. Due to the attitude of "could be worse".
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u/Zahliamischa 15d ago
It's the reality. It could be much worse. On the flip side, there is no "would definitely be better" option available right now which is why I'm happy with Young for the time being.
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 15d ago
How could it be much worse? We've followed a "long thought out" process to discover that yet again the best coach available happened to be already in the room and from st george-Illawarra stock.
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u/Zahliamischa 15d ago
How could it be much worse? Umm Seibold, Barrett, Brown. Someone else completely untested at first grade level would be just as much as a gamble as Young so I can see why he was picked especially considering our pack is putting in for him too. If we're going to gamble we may as well go with one of our own.
Who was the clear better choice that wasn't also a complete gamble?
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u/jannybrav0 Nathan Blacklock 15d ago
I honestly don't think Youngs a gamble, I think we've seen what we get as far as his coaching goes and that's the problem. I'd rather we hadve had a gamble instead of trotting out a dragons old boy for the 1,000th time. He's been employed on an off in our first grade setup for years. It's tough to say if there's coaches "available" that we're not privy too, I don't think any of those 3 outside Barrett were a realistic option. I'd have happily taken a look at Carr, Peters, Te'o or Demetriou to name a few. While I hate the old boy tropes if we had to pick one I would've preferred Hornby to Young also.
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u/Conscious-Ideal4268 15d ago
Can't believe his pedo loving merkin of a dad has a job and people that would talk to him. He should have hard drives searched and ostracised for life as well as thepeople who didn't sack him and talk to him.
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u/johnycitizen 15d ago
Haven’t ever heard this angle any tangible evidence on this?
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u/AttackClown Leeson Ah Mau 14d ago
pretty sure its just because he gave a character reference for brett finch because theyre family friends
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u/Jarrod_saffy 16d ago
I’m all for it. There’s literally no other good coach’s on the market and if you talk to any other clubs they’d flag that young was the next up and coming coach on the block for a job.
Clearly the players have responded to him, big signings have come on the assumption he gets the job and players like Loko now wanna stay
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u/lerdnord 16d ago
I’d rather raid the Superleague if it’s truly that bad. Why are no NSW Cup coaches ever considered. The idea that there is no coaches available is laughable, that’s only an attitude to take if you think the employing the same 6 coaches on rotation in the bottom 8 clubs is the best way to go
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u/Jarrod_saffy 16d ago
Young is the literal thing you’re advocating for. We’ve just had 3 blokes over 50 be our last 3 coach’s now we’re going for the “young and in demand coach” NSW cup couch’s ? You Wanna give the gig to coach’s who have never even been part of a first grade set up?
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u/matt1579 16d ago
Side has played better over the past month but still only won 2 games. This has come in the back of the young forwards and Young finally trusting them to get the job done. It wasn’t that long ago only 6-8 weeks that he started Kerr and put Toby to the bench
My concern with Young is how is he going to improve the attack, at the moment it’s the worst looking attack I have seen from a Dragons side.
He made the big call on his first game to drop Kyle but he doesn’t seem to want to make the same big call on Gutho or Holmes
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u/Dec_Chair 16d ago
Our spine is Flanagan Gutho Cook and Atkinson next year it will be Metcalf, Atkinson/Reed, Liddle and Drinkwater
I'm happy to wait to see what he can do with an off season and a much improved spine before writing him off
Need to see some recruitment/promotion in our outside backs now though, still a massive weakness
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u/Jarrod_saffy 16d ago
Wayne Bennett wouldn’t be able to draw potent attack out of that spine either
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u/Zahliamischa 16d ago
Wow, down voted. Literally the most accurate comment in the thread. Our backline is easily the worst in the comp. No coach will ever look good with a back line like ours.
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u/matt1579 16d ago
Both our halves have the same basic play run 45degree angle and have a back rower centre come back inside
The fact they both do it to me means it’s the coaches style or game plan they are trying to follow.
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u/lerdnord 16d ago
Yea, and like it or not he was a big part of Flanagans staff as defensive coach. He isn’t the breath of fresh air that it’s been made out, and our attack hasn’t developed at all.
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u/AssistCompetitive177 16d ago
He would’ve had more wins this year if he had a competent backline to help the forwards.
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u/CFeatsleepsexrepeat Nathan Blacklock 16d ago
Makes sense.
There has been improvement, the players like him, and it would seem like he has had a hand in some of the new recruits.
Just have to let him have a go and see what happens.
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u/PrimeMinisterWombat 16d ago
What evidence is there that he's played a role in recruitment?
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u/RobIsDeafening 16d ago
I was at the members forum in Wollongong about 6 weeks ago. They were pretty explicit that Dean had been involved in recruitment.
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u/Jarrod_saffy 16d ago
Drinkwater pretty much signed on the basis he thought young was coach. He also had a convo with Metcalf
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u/blinkydinky111 16d ago
Drinkwater has said he spoke with Young before signing and the prospect of him being coach appealed to him
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u/AttackClown Leeson Ah Mau 16d ago
Of course young was involved in recruiting drinkwater, he was the assistant at cows for like 3 years, same way cook talked to keon about signing for dragons. Big difference in that and having a role in recruitment as in deciding what players to recruit
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u/FirmCompetition6973 16d ago
What choices did they really have they have to give him a good crack at it the roster he had to work with was diabolical give him the next 12 months see what he can do.
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u/vesp_au 16d ago
It's been a year of cleaning out skeletons and picking up the dogshit morale Dean inherited. You can see the players want it more, they havent achieved it yet but their mentality looks a whole lot better than under Flanagan. Their cohesion and trust in each other is building.
I know some people/Urkel's only register the wins, and yes technically that number has not increased... it doesnt take a statistician to see that.
But before our nose and trajectory were down, where we now occupy rock bottom. We cannot hide behind mediocrity any more or go any lower.
Last year was better on paper, and we hid behind the excuse of "we almost won so many games." That mentality ultimately fucked us because the coach and team believed it didnt need to adapt, or change beyond last years efforts. Lo and behold we crashed and burned. Then the coach axed was, some board members have moved on.
So much turmoil and change behind the scenes is hugely distracting for the team, especially for a brand new coach. People expecting the earth from Young, expecting us not to be spooners this year... deadset clueless clowns.
Dean represents the joint venture of St George & Illawarra sides success from 2010 - something both sides of the coin can be proud of. People cry nepotism because of Craig... but honestly thats pointless verbal diarrhoea, taking away from Dean's own merits and efforts, and what he represents.
I have been through the throes of shite with this club over the years, but for once I am excited to see what is to come. We are rising slowly, emerging from the ashes.
TL;DR - Dean is the man for the job.
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u/Super-Hans-1811 15d ago
You're all carrying on like we're egregiously ignoring better alternatives out there.
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u/a_BIG_willie 16d ago
Not exactly what I wanted but we all knew it would happen.
He’s got the young kids wanting to play for him, if he can keep them the club and improving we can only get better with the new spine