St George Illawarra's woes run far deeper than a coaching headache or a reshuffle at the back, according to Phil Gould, as the beleaguered club conntinues its desperate hunt for a maiden victory this season.
The joint venture has strumbled through six straight defeats to open the year, with heat rising beneath the feet of coach Shane Flanagan and a senior playing group struggling to find answers.
Scott Drinkwater has been floated as a potential replacement, with the blessing from Clinton Gutherson if the club does officially sign and make move for the North Queensland Cowboys star.
The Bulldogs boss conducted an independent external review of the Dragons more than six years ago when Paul McGregor was at the helm, and found the club lacked financial muscle to action his recommendations.
Wind the clock forward to 2026, and the Red V finds itself in the very same foxhole, with the club's powerbrokers trying to find ways to dig their way out.
"They can't see where their next win is coming from," Gould said on Nine's 100% Footy.
"That's why fans and club managers usually react by sacking the coach ... and that happens in sport all over the world.
"Is that the solution for the Dragons? No - that's not what got them in this position.
"This is the culmination of many, many years of going down the wrong path in a lot of aspects in their club. That's where they need the cleanout, that's where they need to look at themselves and say 'how did we get here and how do we change it?'
"It's going to take them five or 10 years to really get out of this. It's not going to happen by sacking a coach or going and buying a fullback.
"That's not going to solve it, honestly it won't."
The Dragons play the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Saturday evening and then the Sydney Roosters on ANZAC Day before their bye in round nine, where it is expected the club will make changes surrounding Shane Flanagan.
Gould has track record of rebuilding clubs which makes his assessment persuasive. The question mark is what is the media footy talking heads love affair with Flanagan? He’s had more scandals than winning seasons. One Premiership does not make a great coach.
Flanagan is a strange persona, his time holding the microphone for Fox revealed him to have shallow match analysis. This could be put down to being uncomfortable commentating live on air. On the other hand isn’t a critical skill for a coach the ability to communicate what they’re seeing in a game so a team can understand and change?
Given the Seiboldt affair – another scandal ridden coach – which saw the media darling Ennis (does he or does he not have the worst accent in the NRL) ousted from Manly, and now at the Dragons. Is it not clear what the next move will be? Flanagan back to the microphone for is vapid sideline comments and Ennis to get the interm coaches seat which he’ll keep if he gets more wins than Flanagan has this year.