Losing a one-horse race the latest black eye in Dragons decade from hell

How do you lose a one-horse race for a coach?

To answer that, you'd have to ask the St George Illawarra Dragons' board, but given the level of incompetence they as a collective have displayed over the past decade, even they may not have a clue.

This year's final day of May will go down as yet another black eye for the Dragons - in a year where there have already been plenty - with the news that Jason Ryles would snub the club in favour of moving to the Melbourne Storm as an assistant coach for 2024 quickly followed by the story of St George Bank - synonymous with the Dragons for decades - ending their sponsorship of the club.

That second story might appear to be the minor one, but at a club already struggling to retain its juniors and make the right decisions in pathways, it could be a bitter blow financially.

Those two stories came on the same day and have been served up to an already sick and tired fan base who have watched their team play finals just twice since the departure of Wayne Bennett at the end of 2011.

A fan base who are currently watching their side sit in last place on the table after two and a half years too many of Anthony Griffin. Griffin simply never got anything out of the side and may have actively damaged the side as much as anything else during his final months in charge.

That was also after the Dragons' board extended his contract for 2023 before a ball had been kicked in 2022 despite the horror show that was the back end of the 2021 season.

It's not as if the fan base hadn't seen that story play out before either, with previous coach Paul McGregor awarded a new contract after a strong start to a season despite no other clubs chasing him and no credentials to suggest another contract was in order.

McGregor himself was let go under Bennett's watch at the Red V. At that stage, McGregor was only a strength and conditioning coach at the Red V, but somehow, just six years later, the board found it fit that, after being let go by the greatest coach in history, he should be returned to be the head coach of the club he used to play for.

It was viewed by critics as another job for the boys - something the Dragons have a long history of dishing out - and on-field results did little to sway that line of thinking.

The Red V certainly had some horror times with McGregor as a coach, from Jack de Belin's no-fault stand-down to injuries. But his team faltered in each season he coached, regardless of how good the start was, and then somehow, the board awarded another contract to McGregor.

That blew up when they ultimately had to sack him, just as the same would happen with Griffin.

If reports from Wide World of Sports are to be believed, the reason Ryles ultimately turned the Dragons down in potentially taking over the club for 2024 was the lack of control he would receive if he signed on the dotted line to a four-year deal.

Ryles wanted control or, depending on which report you read, at the very least, a level of control over the football department, staffing and player roster - things that frankly aren't unreasonable demands from any coach, particularly one who has had an apprenticeship under both Craig Bellamy and Trent Robinson, who are widely considered to be two of the best three coaches in the NRL, and of this entire generation.

The Dragons needed change, and bringing Ryles in after such an intense apprenticeship while also handing him an element of control would have made a world of sense, even if critics would view it as “another job for the boys.”

This wasn't that. Ryles hasn't been at the Dragons since the last of his games as a player for the club in 2008. That was prior to Wayne Bennett's arrival.

He played abroad, at the Roosters and Storm, and then coached at those two clubs while also coaching in rugby union.

I'm not calling Ryles a golden goose which would have made the Dragons a premiership force overnight as Bennett did, but it would have been a start to appoint him and give him a proper, fair crack at doing so with enough control to make it happen.

The Dragons board has ultimately elected not to give up that control, seemingly out of fear for their own jobs. How those jobs exist in a club that has played finals just twice in over a decade is flabergasting in the first place.

Sure, Anthony Griffin had to go, but it needed to bring with it widespread changes across the club from top to bottom if the joint venture was ever going to fight its way back to relevancy, and the seeming blanket refusal to give Ryles anything approaching control of the things he should have had control over is a major worry for the future of the Red V.

It's no good sacking a coach and starting from square 1 with the same set of circumstances that led you into the mess in the first place. The same pieces to the puzzle which had all but laid the trap for Griffin and other staff members to fall into.

As the old saying goes, doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, and for the last 12 years, the Dragons have done pretty much just that.

The last time the club tried something different was in 2009 by handing Wayne Bennett the keys to the club.

The result: three back-to-back finals appearances and a premiership in 36 months.

It's disputable that bringing Bennett to the club and allowing him to take the onus for football operations was the last good decision this board made in its various shapes and formats over the last decade and a half.

Now, it's a group of people who are seemingly concerned for their own jobs rather than the success of a football team that doesn't exist without its fans.

And it's a fan base that is growing sick and tired of waiting for change.

Sick and tired of waiting for success.

Where to next for the Red V is anyone's guess, but they are becoming tougher and tougher to support by the day.