He’s got the competition’s form player in his ranks and his team is still in the finals hunt with seven rounds to go, but Anthony Griffin is under immense pressure to keep his role as Dragons’ head coach.
Though the board meeting to decide his fate has come and gone, The Mole has since revealed the key numbers at the front of the board’s mind and the reason Griffin is in a perilous position on Nine’s Wide World of Sports.
Despite the team’s current situation, after 41 games in charge Griffin has the unwanted honour of the worst record of any coach in the history of the joint-venture with just 16 wins for a 39% record.
The fact that the Dragons have only had one coach with a winning record after that many games (Wayne Bennett – 30 wins) is concerning in itself, but the fact that Griffin is the worst of them all is a damning statistic he’ll struggle to shake without a remarkable turnaround.
Paul McGregor and Nathan Brown both endured mountains of pressure and scrutiny during their respective time as head coach of the Red V, but they’d still both managed 20 wins from their first 41 games in charge.
Griffin’s nearest rival is Steven Price, who had managed one more win after the same amount of time when he took control of the club at the start of 2012.
Despite the fact his record never really improved and his team never made the finals, Price held his job until the middle of 2014 – although you can’t imagine the board would wait that long this time around.
Adding to the list of unwanted honours, the Dragons’ have now conceded the club’s second-highest points total in history. A second-half collapse against an undermanned Roosters side saw the Tri-colours run in 42 points in the second half against a Dragons team with no answer, handing the Dragons a 54-26 defeat after they led 14-12 at half time.
With a number of important games against other finals aspirants in the coming weeks, an inability to stop the rot and return to winning ways could see Griffin out of a job by the end of September.
