The Dragons need to "blow up" their team and start again - possibly with former player Craig Fitzgibbon as coach.
That's the call from Immortal Andrew Johns, with St George Illawarra winless to start the season, coach Paul McGregor facing the sack and $6 million halfback Ben Hunt switched to five-eighth in a desperate bid to revive his form.
Joey and Brad Fittler explored some of the things that St George Illawarra might do to resurrect the proud club, coming off a 15th-placed finish last year and with this season fast slipping away.
THE COACH
McGregor's future is reportedly hanging by a thread. He needs wins fast, with his next assignment against fellow battlers the Bulldogs on Monday.
Johns said that former Dragons player Fitzgibbon, a highly-regarded assistant coach at the Sydney Roosters, should be pursued if McGregor was axed.
"You know who would be a great fit down there, is Craig Fitzgibbon," Johns said on Wide World of Sports' Freddy and the Eighth.
"He's done his apprenticeship for a lot of years under Trent Robinson. A local boy, he lives down there. I think he would be a great fit, if he wanted the job.
"They need some new ideas and maybe a new voice. They need to blow everything up.
"Different calls; sometimes you have a call and different players know that with the call, they're never going to get the ball, so whether it's a decoy or not, they're going through half-pace, so they're not doing their job.
"I look at the way the Dragons are playing and they haven't changed their style in four or five years. Especially on the weekend (an 18-0 loss to the Warriors), they were getting quick play-the-balls and they were playing block for a block ... instead of going for the defence (straight), they were throwing the ball back (sideways). It just doesn't make sense.
"They won't make the top eight this year, I don't think. They have to rebuild that roster in several positions. Scattered amongst that team there's some absolute quality, but it's just not happening."
Dragons assistant Shane Flanagan may reportedly get a reduction in a head coaching ban that would enable him to take over from McGregor. Yet Fittler said that the former Sharks premiership winner had to cop part of the blame for the Red V's woes.
"Flanno's there at the moment, so obviously Flanno's taking some responsibility with what's going on as well," Fittler said.
THE STARS
Hunt isn't being used properly at halfback and Corey Norman, a big-money five-eighth who was just moved to fullback, is fast becoming expendable, Johns and Fittler reckon.
"Their main man is Ben Hunt. People speak about what sort of money he's on, but the game plan doesn't suit his style," Johns said.
"He's a running halfback, you don't want to complicate his sort of play. He likes to get the ball and go at the defence, he's got a great right foot step. He's a little sausage dog.
"That's his play, the show-and-go, he comes off his right foot. So what you've got to do, you've either got to get some plays off the dummy-half - Cam McInnes, who I've got a big rap on - and let him play with his forwards and have some ruck plays. Then that frees up Ben Hunt to organise his outside backs.
"But main thing, look for the quick play-the-ball and just take them on. I think they've got to free him up, get the game plan away from Ben and just let him do what he does best."
The Dragons are theoretically doing that by pushing Hunt to five-eighth and bringing in organising halfback Adam Clune. Yet there are doubts over Clune's availability to face the Dogs due to a badly broken nose and Johns feels that the logic of simply making Hunt a No.6 is anyway flawed. The attack must be more direct.
"If they're going to play the same way ... if he's playing five-eighth on the back of those block plays, he's going to get the ball running sideways," Johns said.
"If you had a map on all the plays they were using the ball, it's all going sideways. The game is played that way (straight), north-south."
If a Clune-Hunt pairing shows promise, then Norman may be a luxury the Dragons don't need as they try to reshape a winning roster. He is contracted until the end of next season but may be sent looking for his fourth NRL club.
"The players are there. There's a few players that they most probably have to let go, there's going to be a question about Corey Norman on $700,000; that's a lot of money to be paying for someone who's not bringing results consistently," Fittler said.
"His first two games [at the club] he won on field goals, so the start of it was so awesome ... they've barely won a game since."
Hunt, Norman, Tyson Frizell, Paul Vaughan and Tariq Sims are current rep players, while James Graham and Trent Merrin are former Test stars.
"Trent Merrin should be in the [starting] team, I don't know why Trent Merrin isn't," Fittler said.
Frizell gave the club a sharp wake-up call when he announced that he'd signed with Newcastle, because he thought the Knights - who finished 11th last season - were a stronger premiership prospect. The Dragons' first performance after the NRL restart would only have affirmed his feelings.
THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
The 2010 premiership is a fast-fading memory. Dragons fans are getting angry about the lack of success from their team.
Fittler believes that new CEO Ryan Webb is yet to effectively communicate his vision for St George Illawarra's future amid uncertain times. For starters, he reckons it's time for Webb to back or sack McGregor.
"The first thing is, do you know Ryan Webb? You don't know him. He's the CEO of the Dragons," Fittler said.
"We should be hearing from Ryan, Ryan's the one that can put all this to ease and just come out and either show solidarity or make a move.
"At the moment, you'd love to think players are just going to go out there and try hard and it's going to work for them, but it doesn't work like that, because you need to work with other people. Unless you've got the gel, unless it's worked over time, trust builds ... and that doesn't just happen.
"I want to hear from Ryan Webb. I want to hear from the boss."
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/dragons-rebuild-ben-hunt-paul-mcgregor-craig-fitzgibbon-andrew-johns-brad-fittler/0ffbde2d-d183-48b4-ab6a-0c6e3cfc2fe3
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