On this very day a decade ago, faced with the same agonising choice over whether to back or sack their coach, St George Illawarra announced the decision to do the former during the half-time break.
As Steve Price was giving a pep talk to a team down 16-4 – the Dragons were eventually pummelled 34-10 – the club trumpeted his contract extension. The peculiar timing, officials later explained, was to ensure the players weren’t distracted.
There was no mid-game announcement on Tuesday on the future of Anthony Griffin. Nonetheless, his charges appeared distracted during the opening stanza. Many of them are already off-contract, while others will soon become free agents. There is uncertainty over just about everyone within the organisation. It is not an environment conducive to high performance, which is perhaps why they so rarely produce it.
And yet, they emerged after the break an altogether different team. Whatever it was that Griffin said sharpened their focus. They staged a mighty comeback that fell just short but ensured the highest-scoring Anzac Day game in history is one worth remembering.
This event has a habit of throwing form out the window, yet for long periods proved true to form. The Tricolours amassed a lead that pointed to an expected, and lopsided result. It proved anything but.
There were moments of spirited defence and lively attack. Sadly for the Dragons, they didn’t produce enough of them during the softening-up period. On multiple occasions, the Red V would compress the middle of the field when without the ball, yet a Rooster would slice through because they’d got their spacing wrong.
Tyrell Sloan attempts to score against the Roosters on Tuesday.Credit: Getty
Victor Radley and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves pushed fellow forwards into gaps that should never have been there to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Luke Keary’s try also came in the part of the field that should have been the toughest to breach.
No one has been stronger in supporting Griffin than Ben Hunt. The halfback did his best to prolong his coach’s career, setting up both his side’s first-half tries to keep them in the contest.
Another bright spot is the form Tyrell Sloan. Had it not been for Cody Ramsey’s season-ending illness, Sloan may not even be in the side. Now he is the future. The fullback popped up everywhere, his speed and evasion keeping the underdogs in it.
Whether he was flick-passing to unmarked men or burning past a tired Rooster, he was the Dragons’ man most likely. Late on, he was an inch away from grounding a grubber that would have changed the course of events.
However, there were also concerning signs with the Steeden. Nothing summed up the state of the Dragons quite like a play just before half-time. A scrum feed, in prime real estate with the clock ticking down, was the perfect opportunity to put on a rehearsed play. With the backline spread left, somehow everyone missed their assignment and the ball carrier had to surrender to avoid an obstruction. Such moments often prove the difference.
It’s not like the Roosters are flying either. They started the game outside the top eight and will likely finish it that way. Even now, almost a third of the way through the season, they don’t know what their best 17 looks like. Two years ago, Sam Walker was awarded the Ashton Collier Medal en route to Dally M Rookie of the Year honours.
Now he’s watching from the sidelines. His replacement in the No.6 jersey, Joseph Manu, again showed why is one of the best players in the competition regardless of the number on his back. At some point, Trent Robinson needs to make a definitive call.
Robinson is fortunate to have a surplus of match-winners at his disposal. On this occasion, it was Keary, the man of the match, who broke the late deadlock. However, the result papered cracks that need to be addressed, many of them in a threadbare defensive line.
Perched in the opposition coaches’ box was Jason Ryles. The assistant to Robinson would have been assessing the performance of the opposition side as much as his own. Here is a man who doesn’t have to jump at the first clipboard offered to him.
Torn between his loyalty to the Roosters and his desire to begin his head-coaching career at either the Storm or the Dragons, this result wouldn’t have provided much clarity.
Ryles would be aware that timing is everything. He needs to only think back to Price who, just 13 months after signing his contract extension, was shown the door. Like the Dragons, his decision is one he can’t afford to get wrong.
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