Rugby league legends Wendell Sailor and Mark Carroll have referred to as out Dragons powerbrokers for his or her lack of “harmony” and their dealing with of Anthony Griffin’s sacking.
Sailor, who performed 33 video games for the Dragons, defined that Griffin’s exit was a “long time coming” however now the Red V are in a troublesome place.
He believes the followers as soon as once more “miss out” this season with their finals possibilities all however gone after it took Dragons bosses 11 rounds to make the powerful determination.
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“Look I mean I think we’ve all known for a long time this was coming, it is just disappointing because once again this year the fans miss out,” Sailor mentioned on Triple M.
“I don’t think they are a chance of making the eight obviously, Captain Obvious could work that out.
“Once again it is this harmony at the club that hasn’t been on track for a while now, and it stems from the top as far as I am concerned.”
Dragons chairman Andrew Lancaster knowledgeable Griffin of the membership’s determination in Wollongong on Tuesday morning.
Skipper Ben Hunt was additionally mentioned to be livid concerning the membership’s dealing with of the scenario, with gamers being instructed of the news at a gathering at 10am.
Two gamers, Jack de Belin and Ben Murdoch-Masila, had been left to entrance the media earlier than being knowledgeable their coach was axed.
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Carroll, who performed 202 first grade video games, referred to as out the membership’s bosses and the gamers for failing to “aim up”.
“I just look at the way it’s been handled. As they say, fish always rots at the top. Say no more,” Carroll mentioned on Fox League’s NRL Tonight.
“Absolutely appalling. As a fan, you’d have to be wondering what the hell’s going on!”
Carroll laid the blame totally on the entrance workplace, however mentioned the gamers had been additionally at fault.
“It starts at the top and now it’s filtered through. Even some of the players that were talking there like ‘we’ve got to have a bit more of a go’, well you’re the guys who got rid of this coach,” he mentioned.
“You didn’t aim up for him. He wasn’t the one out there dropping balls and missing tackles.”
Carroll was completely in disbelief that the gamers had been compelled to face media moderately than membership bosses.
“Excuse the French, it was a shit fight there. Who’d wanna be at this club? It’s just absolutely diabolical.”
De Belin opens up on Griffin sacking | 01:46
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As it stands, Roosters assistant Jason Ryles is the favorite to take over in 2024 — however Sailor believes the struggling membership wants a harder coach.
“I think Shane Flanagan, and I say Shane Flanagan with the upmost respect,” Sailor mentioned.
“I know Flanagan is obviously a premiership winning coach, he is a strong personality, and he does things his way and I think he knows how to structure a club who can get the job done.
“They just need someone strong in there at the moment and Flanno would do things his way.
“Even though he was at the Sharks… people understand what the Dragons need at the moment.”
Sailor additionally issued a giant warning to Dragons powerbrokers — stating the membership “need to get this one right” to spark a club-wide overhaul.
“The Dragons need to get this one right, what Jason Ryles is going to need to do when he gets there is get the team that he wants and also fix that roster,” Sailor mentioned.
“The recruitment and retention has been awful the last three or five years.
“You have got to shake the Dragons up and that culture, also the recruiting. The Dragons have taken a lot of rookie coaches now.
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“It’s a tough one, you have got to clean out what’s there now but you have to attract players.”
He additionally revealed two golf equipment had inquired about Ben Hunt’s scenario, with the veteran halfback probably in search of the exit following Griffin’s exit.
Hunt was certainly one of Griffin’s closest allies on the membership however now the Maroons gun might really feel “disillusioned”.
“Ben holds all the aces there because I know the Raiders have inquired about him, the Titans I think have inquired about him,” Sailor mentioned.
“Ben Hunt is playing pretty good football in a side that is not going well, he competes every week.
“Great club man and a very big supporter of Anthony Griffin. He may feel a little disillusioned now and I know some Dragons fans may say ‘you know what, let him go’.
“There’s a lot of those young players that are ready to come through so the next coach has got to be prepared to give them a crack because we’ve lost so many young players through the Dragons system.”
Carroll echoed Sailor’s opinion and mentioned a number of golf equipment will probably be sniffing round hoping to safe his providers.
“What’s a contract these days? They just got rid of the coach,” Carroll mentioned.
“He’s not happy and he’d be a fantastic pick-up for many clubs. But hopefully for Ben everything settles down.”
Source: www.foxsports.com.au