Though the club has officially committed to Anthony Griffin starting the 2023 season as head coach, there are reports that another St George Illawarra Dragons legend could already be waiting in the wings if next season gets off to a rocky start at the joint venture.

NewsCorp journalist Brent Read has claimed that premiership-winning Dragon Dean Young could be next in line for the head coaching role, after previously filling the role in an interim capacity during 2020 prior to Griffin's appointment.

There has been intense scrutiny on Griffin after another lacklustre year ended in disappointment for the Red V, but with contract negotiations with Ben Hunt currently ongoing and Griffin's future believed to be a vital part of those discussions, the club has confirmed Griffin will still be in charge come Round 1, 2023.

Young is currently working as an assistant coach under Todd Payten at the Cowboys and is believed to have recently signed an extension – but despite the multitude of circumstances working against any deal, Read claims Young’s eventual move to the Red V is almost inevitable.

“The drums are beating that (Griffin) won’t be there for the long-term,” Read told Triple M.

“Young is the name that keeps getting tossed around, that eventually he’ll take over for Hook whenever that may be.”

Despite reports of Young’s extension in Townsville, Read’s suggestion remained unaffected.

“I don’t think it will matter, Dean will be there eventually.

“There are a few things at play. Young’s name keeps being linked with but job, but his Dad is chairman which makes it a bit hard – the appearance wouldn’t be great.

“But he’s the guy they’d be looking at to eventually take over from Griffin.

Young played every one of his 209 NRL games for St George Illawarra, and also represented both his state and country at the game’s highest levels.

3 COMMENTS

  1. I thought we were done with in-house former players becoming coach. Young’s stint after Mary quit was terrible and why he was overlooked. While anything is better than Griffin, this not the time to be yet again using a rookie that is unproven. We’ve done that 3x with Brown, Price and McGregor all results were poor. Brown had a superstar team and still couldn’t do much with them.

    Griffin needs to go now and we should be looking at someone like Kevin Wolfe, the Walker Brothers, or how about Eddie Jones, he wants to coach NRL.

    Still the most pathetic thing about St George is the board could have just waited year and Fitzgibbon would have coached us rather than Cronulla. We had to insist on 2021, even though he was committed to Robinson. Griffin was a bigger dud than Mary last year, so we achieved nothing and lost a future superstar coach.

    I’ve already written off 2023.

  2. Firing the coach mid-season leads to unrest from the players who liked him, and a downturn in performance as the new coach tries to change things on the run. Look at Cronulla in 2021, sacking John Morris after half a dozen games, and then failing to make the 8 for the first time in years.

    One honourable exception to that generalisation is the performance of Mick Potter at the Bulldogs this year. He got them firing (until the board appointed Ciraldo for 2023, at which point the players stopped trying as hard – no need to bust a gut to impress a coach who won’t be there next year).

    I agree with dragoon about the danger in bringing in a rookie head coach, or an ex-player with board connections. I’d be looking at Mick Potter or maybe Shane Flanagan or Michael Hagen.

  3. HERE IS WHAT I MEANT TO SAY !

    Putting the coach on notice at the end of one season then punting him early in the next has to be the dumbest way to run a club. Either the board should commit to the end of the upcoming season, or the board should replace him before the pre-season starts, so the new coach gets a chance to set the team playing the way he wants them to play.

    Firing the coach mid-season leads to unrest from the players who liked him, and a downturn in performance as the new coach tries to change things on the run. Look at Cronulla in 2021, sacking John Morris after half a dozen games, and then failing to make the 8 for the first time in years.

    One honourable exception to that generalisation is the performance of Mick Potter at the Bulldogs this year. He got them firing (until the board appointed Ciraldo for 2023, at which point the players stopped trying as hard – no need to bust a gut to impress a coach who won’t be hear next year).

    I agree with dragoon about the danger in bringing in a rookie head coach. I’d be looking at Mick Potter or maybe Shane Flanagan or Michael Hagen.

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