The honeymoon is officially over at Wollongong.
Cameron Smith delivered a blunt assessment of St George Illawarra's stuttering start to 2026, placing Daniel Atkinson and Kyle Flanagan squarely in the crosshairs after the Dragons' winless stretch.
There were early signs of something promising, but the first three games against the Bulldogs, the Storm and the Eels have left the football world shaking its head.
Smith wasted no words identifying where the rot begins on Nine's 100% Footy.
"They've got a very big, very physical forward pack and athletic outside backs, I think their halves need to stand up and organise more," he said.
"We saw a couple pictures from the weekend where they got their hands on the ball and shovelled it out wide, and there's nothing organised, no one knows what's going on.
"It's up to Flanagan and Atkinson to get that sorted."
The numbers from Sunday against the Eels only deepen the wound, with a 74 per cent completion rate, and sequences where the Dragons didn't take advantage of the Eels' thin defence.
Phil Gould was equally scathing, suggesting the Dragons had their opponents exactly where they wanted them and still couldn't land the killer blow.
"It's a game the Dragons should've won, I still can't believe they lost it," he passionately shared.
"They had every opportunity to do it and had no idea how to go about it."
The Titans await on Sunday to take on the Dragons.
For Atkinson and Flanagan, the clock is ticking loudly.
