The St George Illawarra Dragons finally pulled the trigger on Monday morning.
At a snap press conference, the club confirmed not only head coach Shane Flanagan, but director of football Ben Haran would be let go.
They called it a mutual agreement, but whichever way you spin it, after seven straight losses - and make it 11 if you include the final month of 2025 - it was the move had to be made.
That's not to say Shane Flanagan didn't do anything positive for the Dragons.
Certainly, his first year in charge was full of green shoots despite not making the finals, but the club has undeniably gone backwards in the last year and a half under his watch.
He will have his reasons, but the refusal to make changes this year as the Red V slumped to zero and seven is just about inexcusable.
Some will point to a lack of quality in the playing roster, but they are his - and director of football Ben Haran's - signings.
From Clint Gutherson, Damien Cook and Valentine Holmes who have all underperformed, to signing Daniel Atkinson as his new halfback and then changing it just five weeks into the competition, there are very clearly deep-running, unresolved issues around the footy club.
The comment that may well have sealed Flanagans's fate came just last week when he suggested he didn't have enough talent to promote from beyond his current 17.
That, despite, at the time, the reserve grade outfit coming off a 40-point beatdown of the Manly Sea Eagles, where young guns led the way. Kade Reed, despite being exceptionally raw, is clearly the best halfback at the club, while the baffling decision to continue hamstringing Loko Pasifiki Tonga's minutes and development has led to him asking for a release.
I'm not going to keep running through that because you can read all the horror stats in front of the Dragons here, but there are more than enough factors that were pointing to immediate change being needed.
Maybe beyond them all was the on-field effort.
The back-to-back home losses against the North Queensland Cowboys and Manly Sea Eagles were beyond atrocious.
Defensively, a mess, but in attack, even worse. There really was no other option for the club's board who must also be under fire given there hasn't been a finals appearance for the Red V in eight years.
The press conference called on Monday morning spent time focusing on the media's criticism of the club, which seemed like an obvious deflection tactic.
But whatever the case, the Dragons must now turn a circle and start to build for the future.
The first step is appointing an interim coach, although it's not likely to be the most important task.
Michael Ennis or Dean Young will take over for the remainder of 2026, before likely giving way to a new coach, but the club may steer away from an experienced, older boss.
The faster game hasn't been kind to Craig Bellamy, Ricky Stuart or Flanagan this year, and it may well be that the Dragons need to raid assistant coaching ranks of other clubs going well. Ben Hornby and John Morris are two names that spring to mind.
Make no mistake though - whoever takes over, on an interim or fulltime capacity - is going to have their work cut out for them.
The Dragons, even if they can rapidly turn it around and play to the potential of a squad who took the Canterbury Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm all the way during the first two rounds of the season, have a hell of a lot of work to do to avoid their first wooden spoon this year.
The first job of the new coach and new head of football has to be to restore faith of the youngsters, and by extension, the playing group.
Dragons fans, largely, would have copped a poor result this season if it was the kids playing. If it was Kade Reed, Pasifiki Tonga, Hamish Stewart, Jacob Halangahu and others running the show.
While Stewart has been one of the shining lights in a very dark tunnel for the Dragons, there needs to be large changes to the 17, maybe not for Anzac Day, but certainly afterwards.
Veterans not performing need to be put on notice, and youngsters need opportunities.
Not losing Pasifiki Tonga would be an enormous shot in the right direction given his current release request.
At this stage, expecting the Dragons to not win the wooden spoon this year could be considered foolish, but it will be about effort, about winning some games and looking a competitive footy team, as most fans expected them to be coming into the year.
It will also be about new tactics.
Not playing inside balls to second-rowers over and over again in attacking positions, and not putting up end over end kicks 20 times per game with no chase.
It will be about effort in defence, and not missing the enormous amount of tackles that have been missed in recent weeks.
It will be about line speed and discipline.
2026 might be a write off for the Red V, but it will be an important part of the building block into next year.
Make no mistake, with a new coach, a new director of football, and an under pressure board, there will be a number of nervous players with their futures on the line.
Changes need to start this weekend against the Roosters on the field, because otherwise, Shane Flanagan might as well have kept his job.
This is only Step 1 in a long, winding process and any fans who expect immediate turnarounds are going to be sorely disappointed.
That's the truth surrounding a club stuck in the mud, like it or not.
Whoever takes over this week needs to swing the axe hard, and not apologise for doing so.
I suspect that Dragons fans would like to see wins, but they will stomach losses as long as the coach is bringing in fresh players who haven’t been given a run, and changing the _way_ the team plays.