Dean Young reality Dragons can’t ignore as ‘nightmare’ looms; door open for NSW’s forgotten man — Crawls

Dean Young should not be judged on wins and losses. Not this weekend against the Newcastle Knights. And certainly not over the next month.

The job Young has inherited at St George Illawarra is as close to a poisoned chalice as you will find in the NRL.

It wouldn’t matter if the Dragons had lured Wayne Bennett, Craig Bellamy or Ivan Cleary to take over from Shane Flanagan.

None of them would be turning this side into a winning football team in the space of a few weeks like Kieran Foran has done at Manly.

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In the five games since Foran took over from Anthony Seibold, the Sea Eagles are four wins and one two-point loss to the Panthers.

Yet the legendary Don Furner senior hit the nail on the head when Furner said decades ago: “Good players make good coaches, and good horses make good trainers”.

The point being that Young simply doesn’t have the same class of rugby league thoroughbreds as Foran to get anywhere near Manly’s recent results.

The Dragons have now lost 12 straight games for a reason.

This isn’t a side that is a tactical tweak away from turning the corner.

This is a team that is completely flatlining in confidence, belief and resilience.

And when you look at the draw ahead, it is impossible to see where the Dragons’ next victory is coming from.

Young’s first week in charge ended with the humiliating 62-16 Anzac Day loss to the Sydney Roosters.

While it was ugly, it also exposed the sheer scale of the rebuild facing the Dragons, regardless of who ends up taking over as the club’s long term coach.

And next up come the revitalised Knights on Saturday, who will arrive in Wollongong fresh off a confidence-boosting win over the Rabbitohs.

After that, it’s the Panthers, Warriors, Broncos and Sharks.

That’s an absolute nightmare stretch for a side already on its knees.

But it wouldn’t matter who the opponents were.

Right now, this Dragons roster would struggle to beat any side in the league.

Which is why any suggestion that Young’s future should be decided on wins and losses is only setting Young up to become the club’s next scapegoat.

The Dragons hierarchy should instead be judging the things that actually matter when a team reaches rock bottom.

How hard does the side compete?

Do the players continue to fight when hope seems lost?

Do they play for one another, and their coach?

Do they present themselves with professionalism and pride — on and off the field?

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Is there a noticeable improvement in the performance of the individuals under Young as opposed to Flanagan?

Has their discipline improved in matches and at training?

And perhaps most importantly of all, can this squad rediscover some genuine mateship and connection?

For the past 12 months, the body language has been there for all to see.

That doesn’t get fixed overnight with a new game plan.

Yet if there is one thing Young always represented as a player, it was an unwavering commitment to always give nothing but his best.

There wasn’t an individual in that 2010 Dragons premiership winning team who inspired the way Young could through his sheer effort, competitiveness and refusal to back away from any challenge.

That is why Young’s comments after taking on the interim role resonated so strongly when he spoke about wanting his children to see him walk towards a challenge, instead of away from it.

That is exactly the mindset this Dragons squad desperately needs.

Not PR spin or false promises about instant turnarounds.

They need someone willing to rebuild this club brick-by-brick, even when results continue to deliver disappointment.

The fact Young has stuck with teenage halfback Kade Reed ahead of Kyle Flanagan at least shows that Young is genuine about trying to improve this football side for the long term.

The easy decision would have been to reinstate Flanagan in hope of trying to jag a win.

But too often interim coaches fall into the trap of chasing short-term results to protect themselves.

At least Reed brings with him some fresh hope for Dragons fans.

There is every chance the losses will continue to mount over the next month regardless of who is playing halfback.

But at least if the Dragons start competing harder, defending tougher, showing more creativity in attack, and rediscovering pride in the Red V, then Young will be on the road to picking this club up off the canvas.

WHY BULLDOGS’ DIARRHOEA ‘PUNISHMENT’ LEAVES A BAD SMELL

Did Stephen Crichton and Viliame Kikau have to wrestle 30 teammates for missing a team flight to Brisbane a fortnight ago?

It’s a legitimate question following reports that the Bulldogs players involved in the club’s latest ‘misdemeanour’ were sanctioned by their teammates.

For the sake of clarity, it should be revealed publicly exactly what those sanctions were — otherwise, it just leaves a bad smell.

The group reportedly included skipper Crichton along with star forward Kikau and winger Marcelo Montoya. The fourth player hasn’t been named.

But it was claimed that three players had stayed behind to assist a teammate who had suffered a sudden bout of diarrhoea at the airport.

While the incident has been downplayed as nothing significant, it still raises obvious questions how the punishment lined up with what young Jackson Topine allegedly copped a couple of years back.

It was claimed Topine had to wrestle between 30 and 35 teammates after he reportedly turned up late to training.

Of course, that initiated a bitter legal dispute that was eventually settled in February this year, after discussions reportedly paved the way to the case being dropped.

At the time Topine’s lawyer Abdul Reslan told The Daily Telegraph: “The matter has resolved under a deed of release and confidentiality.

“Jackson is pleased with the outcome and looks forward to future endeavours.”

It should be made clear that the Bulldogs maintained throughout that neither the club nor its staff acted improperly.

Still, it would be good to know what the punishment was for Crichton, Kikau and co, just to put to bed any suggestions of perceived doubled standards.

Although Cameron Ciraldo created a further twist this week when he said that he was “happy that three of our guys stayed back to make sure that one didn’t miss the plane. That is a good thing.”

But doesn’t that just raise further questions as to why the players involved were even sanctioned in the first place?

FORGOTTEN MAN IN NSW HALVES DEBATE

The untimely injury to Adam Doueihi has opened the door for the forgotten man in the NSW halves debate to step up.

And Ethan Strange won’t get a better chance to stake his claim then when the Raiders five-eighth returns from injury and goes up against Nathan Cleary’s Panthers on Sunday in Canberra.

Blues coach and former Raider Laurie Daley has made no secret of the fact he rates the man now wearing his old No.6 jumper extremely highly.

And there is no doubt the other five-eighth options to partner Cleary in the Blues halves haven’t exactly set the world on fire this season.

Mitchell Moses is expected to get the nod even though his form for Parramatta has been average at best, while incumbent Jarome Luai would have to be a long shot given his disappointing performance in last year’s decider.

But if Strange aims up against Cleary, it will definitely give Daley something to think about.

At worst a strong showing on Sunday could get Strange a seat on the Blues bench, given Doueihi was being tipped to get that utility spot before going down with a serious shoulder injury in the Tigers’ loss to the Sharks.

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