To say the St George Illawarra Dragons have major problems would be the understatement of the century.
In front of the last dregs of their fan base willing to brave a wet night at Kogarah, the Red V fell to their 11th loss in a row to start 2026 on Saturday evening against the New Zealand Warriors.
Of the 8700 people in attendance, you could very easily mount the case a third or more of them were Warriors fans, with those in red and white on the sparsely populated hill unable to understand what it was they were seeing.
So bad was it that the Warriors fans, always a good bunch, were more sympathetic to the plight of the Dragons than anything else.
Rugby league fans, generally speaking, don't take joy in watching a team lose 11 - and 15 if you count the final four of last year - games on the trot.
But for those at Kogarah, there was an overwhelming sense of dread. A sense that is going to get worse before it gets better.
Sacking Shane Flanagan just over a month ago after the seventh of these losses was never going to be the immediate, quick fix, but certainly, the club had to do something.
Flanagan, along with Ben Haran, ultimately had to go, even if it wasn't going to lead to an immediate change of fortunes.
They built the roster, Flanagan was refusing to try anything with regards to team selection even as his coaching career went out in reverse, and the playing group, it's clear, just weren't buying in.
But it's more than that, because the playing group also very clearly aren't good enough.
There will be segments who think that's harsh, but it's the cold, harsh reality. A coach change can do wonders, as it has at Manly, but the Dragons, if anything, have simply gone backwards.
The Anzac Day mauling against the Roosters, the horror loss in Wollongong to the Knights, and Saturday's effort against the Warriors.
The Magic Round scoreboard against the Panthers didn't look good, but in truth, it was the Dragons best effort since Vegas - they worked very hard against the six-time preliminary finalists, but just didn't have the class to break through the wall from the foot of the mountains.
There were more than class issues on Saturday though, and while interim boss Dean Young can't do much about his roster, his chances at being named full-time coach are slipping away - rapidly.
He is not getting anywhere near the best out of this footy side right now, and that was evident from early in the contest against the Warriors.
The Dragons actually started quite well, controlled where the game was being played, scored the first try and were looking strong.
But then they made an error, and within the blink of an eye, Alofiana Khan-Pereira had skipped around about six different players, some who stood there and did nothing, and others who made half-hearted grabs at the try-scoring machine as the sleeting rain fell.
In the end, no one manned up and looked like stopping him, and it was no surprise to see him dot down.
The groan from the hill was an audible one, and it set the scene for things to come.
Despite controlling possession, territory and approaches to the opposition line, the Dragons time and time again would be repelled by the Warriors, only to offer nothing more than a meek surrender in defence.
It's a script that has repeated itself all year long for the Red V. A club with one of the best crops of young forwards in the game has no issue getting into an attacking position, but they certainly do have problems once they are there.
Kyle Flanagan was dropped ahead of Dean Young's first game, and with good reason. The Dragons are, in a word, stagnant.
You couldn't count on two hands the number of times that the Dragons had a player pushing into space but without support to actually get a play going.
Simply put, there were no bodies in motion for much of the game.
That is never going to cut it in any version of the NRL, but particularly this new, faster one.
Compare it to the Warriors, and it was like watching a well-oiled machine up against a team of players who were just meeting each other for the first time.
While the weather was poor, that lack of cohesion saw 15 errors for the Dragons. A team not actually throwing it around should never make that many. The Warriors made the same, but there is no doubt they showed more in attack.
Again, there was no great issue with the productivity of the forwards. Loko Pasifiki Tonga led the way with 127 metres from 12 runs when it came to productivity per run, but Toby Couchman (180 metres), Dylan Egan (106 metres) and Ryan Couchman (142 metres) all ran north of 100.
But that with a kicking game which constantly picks out the fullback and offers no creativity, as well as the noted red-zone issues, means it all comes to nothing for the Red V.
Add that to the lack of energy and effort in defence, and an unbelievably poor night for the back five, and you start to understand just why the Dragons are going along as badly as they are.
The injury to Hayden Buchanan means Valentine Holmes may well continue to play for the coming weeks, but he is in career-worst form at both ends of the park, while there are also question marks around the rest of the back five.
The overwhelming feeling from the hill at Kogarah, by the time it was all said and done, was to ask the question of whether this side is going to win a game at any stage this year.
The Dragons still have a couple of weeks until they become the worst start to a season of the NRL era - the 2006 South Sydney Rabbitohs picked up their first win in their 13th game, and the 2005 Newcastle Knights in their 14th game, but it's tough to see where one is coming from for the now zero and eleven Dragons.
They play their next four on the road against the Broncos, Sharks, Knights and Raiders, before hosting the Tigers and travelling to Auckland in Round 20.
Maybe it's at home to the Gold Coast Titans in their 18th game - Round 21 that is - which is their best chance of picking up a win.
The law of averages says they have to win at some point, and there could yet be a surprise during the Origin period with players sitting out and injuries causing chaos.
Origin, at the very least, won't impact the Red V, but it's difficult to remember a time since those 2005 and 2006 seasons where the disparity between the worst team and the second-worst team is so great.
As much as the future looks brighter for the Dragons with Keaon Koloamatangi, Phillip Sami, Scott Drinkwater and Luke Metcalf to arrive at the end of the season, that is an awfully long way away right now.
Dean Young needs to find something before then, or his dream of being the full-time head coach of this club will go up in smoke.
Who would actually want to take the Red V over though, is anyone's guess.
Certainly, from the hill at Kogarah, the feeling is Young isn't doing a good enough job to be offered the gig with a transformative six or so months before the start of the 2027 pre-season ahead for the joint-venture.
What is for sure is that the fan base has had enough.
