Apr 2nd, 2017

Apr 2nd, 2017

St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor deserves a contract extension.

The Dragons have started the year by winning four of their first five matches. But it’s not just the fact they are winning games that leads me to the conclusion that McGregor is starting to come into his own as the head coach of an NRL football team. It’s the way they are winning that makes a difference for me.

When I watch a football team play, I immediately start judging whether they are well-coached, poorly coached, or totally uncoached at all.

The things I see in the Dragons in 2017 lead me to the belief that this is a well-coached football team. There are five things I notice about this team, and this coach, that convince me Paul McGregor can lead this club to a successful period in the years to come.

Firstly, they are fit and strong. This team appears to have undergone a tremendous off-season program. You only have to look at the improvement in physicality, right across the board, of just about every Dragons player. They can maintain the consistency of intensity right across the full 80 minutes of their games each weekend. They can start strong, maintain the rage through the middle parts of the game, and they have been there at the back-end of all their contests, still feverishly working away in the effort areas of the game.

Secondly, this team is a tremendous attitude towards their defensive work. Defence is the hardest part of the game. This is where you show your passion, desire, and commitment. In the modern age, it also shows how much you know about football. To be able to assess the strengths of the opposition and where they are most likely to attack your defensive line, and then prepare to meet those challenges to turn them away, was a sign of a very well coached football team. It is also the sign that all players are buying in to the coach's words. Watching the Dragons defend their try line so resiliently, not just yesterday against the West Tigers, but in all the games this season, shows me that this is a football team where all players are fighting together for the common cause.

St George Illawarra players have become fit, defensively strong and patient under coach Paul McGregor. (AAP)

Thirdly, this team looks as though this team has not only found the strengths of its game, but they are prepared to be patient and persevere in playing to these strengths as the foundation of their strategy each weekend. The Dragons play a power game, built around an impressive forward pack who work together as a unit. Their aim at the start of each match is to dominate the advantage line in the middle parts of the field. Their recent record of four wins in five matches is testimony to the work ethic of their big men and the physical dominance they have been able to generate.

Number four; the attacking game plan against the West Tigers yesterday was brilliant. It showed they had a plan, and they executed it perfectly. It shows that McGregor knows his football and can sell a plan to his team.

Finally, Paul McGregor is starting to look and sound like an NRL coach. In the early part of his tenure as the head man at the Dragons he wasn’t all that convincing when speaking publicly about his team. In recent times, though, I have been extremely impressed with the way he has presented himself and articulated the team's intentions during his media interviews. There is an air of self-belief about this coach which is obviously spilling over into the on-field performance of his players. He has become less concerned with the trivial, less apologetic for the poor, less affected by the bad bounce or poor decision, and he exudes a confidence in his players. You get the feeling he turns up to the game each weekend expecting to win.

Now, all factors were in evidence yesterday in the Dragon’s very professional 28-6 victory over the West Tigers.

The Dragons were able to execute a perfect game plan spearheaded by captain Gareth Widdop against Wests Tigers. (AAP)



They were physically fitter and stronger than their opponents. They proudly defended their line for long periods of time refusing to yield. The only try they conceded was from a grubber kick that could not be cleaned up in their own in goal area. Despite the mountain of possession West Tigers had at their opponent's end of the field, they could not crack the defiant defensive wall of the Dragons. The Dragons' forward pack again dominated their opposite numbers, taking command of the physical battles.

The attacking game plan of the Dragons was near-perfect. McGregor had obviously identified that the West Tigers right-hand side defence likes to rush up very quickly to put pressure on opposition playmakers. The Dragons were purposeful in working into a good position to execute their plan. They would set up a play-the-ball just to the right-hand side of the posts, before swinging the ball quickly to the left with deep, long passes, inviting the West Tigers right-hand side defenders to come and get them.

Once they got the reaction they were looking for, St George Illawarra captain and 5/8 Gareth Widdop had the repertoire of plays to hurt them on the scoreboard.

He set up four tries. Two of them with perfectly placed kicks, in behind the Tigers' defensive line. The other two tries came courtesy of brilliant long spiral passes from Widdop to his outside men, well beyond the reaches of the West Tigers defenders. These plays were obviously planned and clinically executed.

It's great when a plan comes together. The smiles on the faces of the Dragon’s players told the story. They had trained hard, prepared well, and taken the West Tigers down exactly the way they planned. This not only builds confidence within the team, but confidence from the players in their coach.

The Dragons and their coach are in a good head space right now and will be very hard to beat every time they play.

Wests Tigers winger David Nofoaluma is one of the few players at the club who can hold his head high in 2017. (AAP)

West Tigers?

Well, to be honest, it was just more of the same. In every game, they’ve played this year, they've been reasonably competitive for the first 40 or 50 minutes. Unfortunately, the energy and confidence seems to drain away at this point of the match and they have been unable to finish anywhere near strongly enough over the concluding stages.

A couple of their forwards have toiled away admirably. Others have been found wanting under pressure. Fullback James Tedesco can hold his head high with the effort he contributes over the 80 minutes. Winger David Nofoaluma also get through a mountain of work and has been very impressive.

The Wests Tigers desperately need a new coach and a new attitude.

The Dragons have already got both. Very impressive indeed.