When a wedding is planned but either the Bride or Groom pull the pin weeks before the event, or the nuptials go ahead yet the journey to marital bliss comes off the road within weeks, it is widely assumed that one of the parties doesn't exactly know what they want in life.
The ‘jilted' is left to pick up the pieces of their suddenly gifted new circumstances, the ‘jilter' often thinks that the grass could be greener on the other side.
Shane Flanagan hadn't even got to the church on his new contract as St George Illawarra Head Coach. Anthony Seibold had already been through the ceremony. He'd signed on to make things more permanent at Manly Sea Eagles. But maybe they shouldn't have got married at all. He was kicked out of the house after a month.
The jilted – Flanagan and Seibold. The jilter – Dragons and Sea Eagles.
The bad thing for the jilted in this instance, the jilter has quickly hooked up with a new suitor. A younger, arguably more vibrant, fresher, modern version.
The jilters clearly have a crisis of identity and no clear idea of what they want in a coach, as they've changed it that much.
I think it's very safe to say that the jilters, Manly Sea Eagles and St George Illawarra, have to clearly work out what they want moving forward. What they stand for and what will make them happy.
Because it's obvious the last coaching relationship they were in didn't work.
In fact, how many failed relationships have they been in lately?
The Dragons, since their premiership-winning coach Wayne Bennett left ahead of the 2012 season, have had six coaches (including interims). Paul McGregor had over six years in the job, a lifetime compared to the others during that period.
It also gives you an idea as to how tumultuous and unstable the periods outside of that were at the joint venture. He was also the last coach to get them to the finals in 2018.
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The Sea Eagles are on their fifth choice of coach since the halcyon days of the Des Hasler era ended, conveniently for us, also ahead of the 2012 season.
Geoff Toovey, Trent Barrett, Hasler again and then Anthony Seibold were the men tasked with bringing the glory days back. Kieran Foran is the attractive young suitor that's been given a shot at the title recently.
Manly have had a lot more success than their fellow Sydney (or Illawarra) franchise in that period. Toovey got them within a game of the decider in 2012, but got there a year later, only to miss out to the Roosters.
In fact, the Brookvale boys were there or there abouts until 2015, when Toovey stepped aside for who was then the most eligible, Trent Barrett.
Barrett steered the Sea Eagles to... erm... 13th, before dragging them back to the shortest possible stay in the finals in 2017. That was enough to keep him in the hotseat until he finished one off the wooden spoon position in 2018.
Manly got back with their old squeeze Des Hasler in 2019 and he worked his magic in most of his tenure, peaking with a preliminary final appearance in 2021 and until the drama around the Pride jersey in 2022.
Anthony Seibold moved in during 2023 and we now know how he was booted out in early in 2026.
The similarities between the Dragons and the Sea Eagles since 2012 are that a) it is the same time period b) they haven't won a premiership in that time and c) they've churned through plenty of coaches.
Where as the Sea Eagles seem to have a clear idea of what their ‘DNA' is (aka get an old boy to coach the team), does anyone know what the Dragons DNA is?
It seems they might be searching for it.
As part of his pitch to the fans and his employers this week, Interim Dragons Coach Dean Young is quoted as saying to the media that “no-one knows the club like me”. His former premiership-winning teammate Ben Creagh was also quickly installed as Head of Football, or something like that.
No doubt buoyed by the instant success of Manly's old boy, Kieran Foran and the Wests Tigers very own crush Benji Marshall, the Dragons hierarchy are looking to recreate the better the devil you know formula at Kogarah (or is it Wollongong now?)
Let's look at this ‘DNA' theory.
The Storm, Panthers and Roosters have been the three most successful NRL clubs of the period since 2012.
None of Craig Bellamy, Trent Robinson or Ivan Cleary had ever played for the club they coach. In fact, Michael Maguire hadn't played for the Rabbitohs or Broncos before he coached them both to the promised land and the 2016 winning coach Shane Flanagan had never laced on the boots for the Sharks.
The only outlier since 2012 is the late Paul Green who played 35 games for the Cowboys, (the second of his five clubs as a player) at the turn of the century. He'd been to a few different clubs before he coached the Cowboys to the title 15 years later.
So, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that the old boys' theory isn't the magic bullet. Wayne Bennett, Dragons last title-winning coach, hadn't even played for or coached a club in the state of New South Wales prior to getting hold of the Red V.
The trick (get ready for a bombshell) is to get the best coach, to get the right support networks around the coach and to have patience with that process.
To get the best coach, don't jump on what the Manly Sea Eagles apparently did before appointing Trent Barrett.
Don't watch someone coach half a session and say ‘that's our man'. Coaching is a lot more than that.
Have a good think of what a head coach actually does and what qualities are important. This past article of mine may help.
When you've done deep research and appointed a coach, offer unconditional support when things aren't necessarily going the way they were intended.
But a message to all the suits at both clubs. If there is an unstable off-field environment at the club, this doesn't help at all.
Channel the Coach of the 20th Century, Jack Gibson, who said “Winning Starts in the Front Office”. This man even managed to coach the Eels to a hat-trick of titles in the early 1980s, so he's worth listening to. Is the club situation off the field the right one for a new coach to succeed?
If lines of accountability aren't clear at the Dragons or Sea Eagles, if there is no long-term vision, if there are knee-jerk reactions, it will be the same old cycle that plays out in the next few years.
Opinions on football are like the hole in your backside, everyone has one. But football people need to deal with the football, everyone else in the organisation needs to stay the heck away. And trust the people they put in place.
Otherwise more failure is not just possible —it's likely.
Lee Addison is a former club coach at Sea Eagles and Panthers and the founder of rugbyleaguecoach.com.au. He is a Coach Mentor and his programmes for coaches and clubs can be found HERE.
