Dragons have had six coaches since they became a merged team and of those six so far David Waite, Nathan Brown, Steve Price, were not retained for various reasons and Wayne Bennett and Andrew Farrar moved on of their own accord. Mcgregor has had a chequered career as Dragons coach and on his watch they have finished 2014 -11th: 2015-8: 2016-11: 2017-9: 2018 -7: 2019-15.
Dragons fans are a special breed indeed. Some banned from grounds due to anti coach unauthorized banners. "Step Down McGregor" and "Fail Mary"When their team goes like a busted the coach is to blame and it is "Sack him, he can't coach " but as soon as they turned it around he was the best thing since sliced bread.....The only reason they did not pull the pin on him was simple....money...it is just a bit of luck that they have started to perform.
https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/d...s/news-story/f2bdf1a00fab1ef461e86ecc5161a0b9
While they have been calls for McGregor to be sacked, the Dragons would need to offer him a substantial payout, reportedly around $1 million, if they terminated his contract early.
As pointed out by Sydney Morning Herald reporter Michael Chammas, the call to keep McGregor actually plays into the club’s hands moving forward.
“The only logic for sparing McGregor If Dragons sack him & pay out $1m, it goes in the football cap. That significantly reduces ability to attract a decent coach next year,” Chammas tweeted.
“2020 is a write-off, no matter who coaches. The longer he continues, the more they can spend on next coach”
The club released a statement shortly after the news was announced McGregor would be the man in charge for the remainder of the season.
“Although the board acknowledges the club’s performances so far throughout 2020 have been unacceptable; we will continue to support Paul, his staff and the team through these tough times,” Dragons Chairman Andrew Gordon said in the
statement.
“We are committed to Paul as coach of the St George Illawarra Dragons and look forward to seeing him right the wrongs of the opening month of the current campaign.
“We are a club that stands by our people when under pressure. This is a time for loyalty, strength and commitment from the players, coach, board and staff to improve.”