Under-fire St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor has lashed his team for a lack of passion and promised to swing the axe if they continue to underperform.
Saturday’s 18-0 loss to the Warriors marked their worst start to an NRL season in seven years and follows hard on the heels of their worst season as a joint venture in 2019.
McGregor is now under pressure to keep his job just three games into a two-year contract extension after six seasons in charge.
Although he denied he is feeling any pressure, McGregor said players need to take personal responsibility for their effort and passion for the jersey.
“It’s got to come from within,” he said after Saturday’s loss at Central Coast Stadium.
“Belief is a by-product of success too and we’ve lost a few games and we’re coming off a not a great year.
“We’ve got to find that. Passion is being excited to play, it’s about being in the moment and going after it so that comes down to the individual.
“The scrimmages at training, the intensity that we’ve trained at, is not transferring on to the field on game day.
“The passion, the excitement, the competitiveness needs to be there, shown by everyone.”
While the Warriors were slick and near faultless, the Dragons were disorganised in attack and failed to fire a shot when in threatening field position.
“Attitude is by-product of belief and today at times they looked like strangers out there,” he said.
“We didn’t do anything at speed and a couple of the tries they scored needed to be defended and they weren’t. Defence is all about attitude.
“When we had some field position we turned over possession twice so we didn’t play with any composure there either.”
Leading into the game players were told no one’s position is safe, and McGregor said he would consider making changes for the next round clash with Canterbury.
“I’d like to reflect a little bit and watch the game again and talk to my staff,” he said.
“There’s no reserve grade now there’s only one way for players to get an opportunity and that’s by performing on game day.
“If we feel the right adjustment to the team needs to be done, there’ll be changes.
“If we feel there’s no right adjustment we’ll keep the 17, but it will be a discussion point this week.”