2017 NRL Season Preview - St George Illawarra Dragons
St George Illawarra Dragons 2017 Preview
2016 Review - The Dragons missed the finals for the fifth time in six years, finishing in 10th place in 2016 with 10 wins and 14 losses. After sneaking into the finals in Paul McGregor's first full season in charge in 2015, the Dragons were unable to replicate that feat in 2016 despite making a solid start. The Dragons had a fantastic home record winning 8 from 12, however were awful on the road winning just 2 games and losing 10. The Dragons were a train-wreck to watch with the football for most of the season, mustering just 58 tries in 24 games at an average of less than 2.5 per game. The Dragons had the 15th highest ranked attack for points scored and managed just 36 more points than Newcastle who won just one game for the season.
Never were thing worse than during a 5-match losing streak late in the season, where their halves in Gareth Widdop and Benji Marshall really struggled for combination and form. Josh Dugan was also well below his best at the back, managing just 2 tries for the entire season. On the positive side of things, the Dragons managed the 5th most run metres in the competition and the 5th most tackle breaks. However they were unable to convert that to points. Tyson Frizzel was probably the Dragons' best player, as he really emerged as a damaging runner of the football with his all action displays for Saints and NSW.
2017 Gains: The Dragons have picked up a few handy First Graders heading into 2017 starting with big outside back Nene Macdonald from the Gold Coast Titans. MacDonald was a weapon for the Titans last season, scoring 10 tries and averaging 130 run metres per game. He was also very effective catching high balls, especially useful as an attacking threat off cross field chips and bombs. Cameron McInness (Souths) is a serviceable dummy half, I think, and I don't think he is a big downgrade on Mitch Rein, while Paul Vaughan (Raiders) has been brought in to stiffen up a big pack that often got out muscled and over powered. I'm not convinced he will stand out as much in Dragons' colours as he did in that giant Canberra pack that fed off each other. Other signs for the Dragons in 2017 include Josh Kerr (Storm) and Shaun Nona (Illawarra Cutters).
2017 Losses - The big talking point for Dragons fans were the losses of both Benji Marshall and Mitch Rein, half of their starting spine from last season. Whilst Marshall could have given them another year of reasonable service, I think he only would have been plugging a gap and the Dragons won't miss him much. I also thought Rein was a slightly over rated player, however it will be very interesting to see what sort of football he plays outside of the Dragons regimented structure. The Dragons were very predictable and stodgy with the football last year and it might have stifled some of the potential creativity a hooker like Rein might have to offer. Other losses for the Dragons included Mike Cooper (Warrington), Sebastine Ikahihifo (Huddersfield), Ben Creagh (retirement), Dylan Farrell (retirement), Tom Carr (Bulldogs), Dunamis Lui (Raiders) and Adam Quinlan (Hull KR).
2017 Player To Watch - Jai Field and Matt Dufty - These are two kids of serious potential, and the Red V fans have been looking for something to cling on to for the past few years. Duffy, for mine, looks more ready for the rigours of First Grade with his strong build and strong running game. Dufty has been an extremely prolific fullback in the Holden Cup, making several line breaks and scoring plenty of tries over the past seasons. Jai Field also set the Holden Cup alight last year in the Number 6 position, with his electric speed and slick running and passing game. He is very slightly built, so I am not sure he is ready for the weekly demands of NRL football despite his outstanding performance in the Auckland Nines. Crucially for the Dragons, these are two long term players that can improve the spine of their team. It might not be this season, but I expect both to play First Grade at some stage this year as this club needs to look to the future and not churn out the dire and predictable football they rolled out for long intervals last season.
2017 Draw - The Dragons have one of the better draws in the NRL this season, playing last season's Top 4 a total of just 5 times. The Dragons also have some of their tougher games like the Storm, Sharks, Cowboys and Roosters between Round 13 and 18 which might help them, as those Clubs will either be missing players through Origin or having players play backing up or banged up.
2017 Forecast - 15th (6-8 wins)
I just think this was a Club really on the slide in the back end of last season, and I don't think they have the personnel to turn things around. I don't know if Paul McGregor is capable of restructuring this team to have faith in youth or make them a more dangerous attacking outfit by playing more caution to the wind. The same style of grinding football will keep the Dragons competitive in most games, however it will bore their fans to tears, and they will end up losing far more games than they win. Their spine looks close to the worst in the competition with way too much falling on Gareth Widdop who was poor last season.
Whilst I like the look of young Matt Dufty and Jai Field, they are both rookies yet to play a First Grade match, so you can't expect them to come in and have an impact straight away and elevate this team. The likes of Dugan and Nightingale are slow and stale in the backs and, whilst their pack is not terrible, I don't think they are going to scare anyone. I think if the team gets off to a poor start, Paul McGregor wont see the season out as Head Coach.