St George Illawarra Dragons interim coach Dean Young has promised to make major changes as the club’s new era under his reign began with an ANZAC Day disaster.
They may have switched coaches and halfbacks but it was all doom and gloom for the Dragons on Saturday afternoon as the Dragons suffered their biggest defeat at the hands of the Roosters.
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In what was set to be a day of celebration, the Dragons were “embarrassed” in front of their home fans as they were taken to the cleaners by the Sydney Roosters, conceding 62 points in the process.
“The first thing I did was ask them how they’re feeling and I’ve got a group of players that are embarrassed by the performance we tossed up today,” Young said, with no captain present in the post-match press conference.
As they struggled to mount any attack and made simple handling errors in defence, Young has pledged to overhaul the entire Dragons program as they look to change the way they do things.
“Just the way the program’s run. I need to get in there and change the way we’re doing things because what we’re doing at the moment is obviously not working, as you saw,” he added.
“I can’t predict the future, unfortunately. All I’m focused on is one day at a time at the moment and I’ve got to go back and review that.
“Then we’re going to have a really good review on Wednesday and make sure that we learn from it.”
Roosters HAMMER Dragons on ANZAC day | 02:26
Set to shake things up once they return from the bye in Round 10, Young did confirm that Kade Reed will remain in the No.7 jersey – but there is no telling who may accompany him in the halves.
In his first career NRL match, the debutant looked fearless in attack and wasn’t afraid to defend the likes of Siua Wong who continued to target him down the left-edge.
While the stats and two errors don’t represent his performance, the half nearly provided the opening try assist of the contest – before it was denied by the bunker – and he organised the attack much better than either Daniel Atkinson or Kyle Flanagan in recent weeks.
“Kade will be our halfback against the Newcastle Knights,” he continued.
“I was proud of him. It’s a tough ask going into ANZAC Day when your 0-7. I thought he did his best.
“He’s got a lot to work on but I thought there were some good signs there.”