{"id":285131,"date":"2023-04-11T20:50:43","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T20:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=285131"},"modified":"2023-04-12T05:00:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T05:00:33","slug":"change-in-coach-hunt-unearths-shock-favourite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=285131","title":{"rendered":"Change in coach hunt unearths shock favourite"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dragons<\/a> are set to wipe the slate clean after a decade of disappointment – ending the hopes of former club stars Jason Ryles, Ben Hornby and Dean Young to succeed embattled Anthony Griffin<\/a> as coach in 2024.<\/p>\n

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Dragons met with leading player manager George Mimis, who represents ex-Dragons front-rower Ryles and former premiership-winning captain Ben Hornby.<\/p>\n

But a Dragons director has told Wide World of Sports that the club has decided to end its long-standing tradition of appointing coaches from within.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Turbo switch as Blues' plan crumbles<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Challenge' for AFL legend after awkward moment<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The 'toxic' problem the NRL must address<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"The last time we had success was back in 2010 when we looked outside the box, hired Wayne Bennett<\/a> and won the comp," the source said.<\/p>\n

"We feel that is the way to go. Granted Griffin came from outside but that hasn't worked as well as we had hoped.<\/p>\n

\"Dragons<\/p>\n

"But we feel it's best to get a fresh face, someone not aligned with St George or Illawarra and new to the club with no pre-conceived ideas."<\/p>\n

Mimis also manages former Manly premiership-winning coach Des Hasler and the club's new stance puts him in pole position for the job.<\/p>\n

But others likely to come into consideration are former Sharks coach John Morris, England boss Shaun Wane, and ex-Tigers and South Sydney coach Michael Maguire.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Bulldogs boss and Nine expert Phil Gould agrees with the Dragons' approach, declaring: "I think the Dragons need someone who has never been a part of the Dragons… I think Des Hasler would be a good fit for them right at this time".<\/p>\n

Ryles was considered the favourite for the job but he is believed to have his eye on Melbourne, where Craig Bellamy seems likely to retire at season's end.<\/p>\n

\"Why<\/p>\n

TITANS IN FIGHT FOR NEW STAR\ufeff<\/h3>\n

Former Leeds hooker Kruise Leeming looked sharp in his NRL debut in the Titans' win over the Dragons – but his stay Down Under may be a short one.<\/p>\n

Leeming is only signed until the end of this season and already has a couple of offers from UK clubs for 2024.<\/p>\n

Titans officials were impressed with the way he went about his business when he came off the bench on Sunday and are certain to put a new deal to the talented No.9 if his good form continues.<\/p>\n

\"Kruise<\/p>\n

NOT-SO-MAGIC ROUND?\ufeff<\/h3>\n

The NRL could have a problem on its hands with Magic Round just four weeks away.<\/p>\n

The surface at Suncorp Stadium was soft under foot and after 80 minutes in the Broncos vs Raiders game last weekend, looked like a minefield.<\/p>\n

Playing eight games in the space of three days could prove too much for the soft grass – and that increases the chance of injuries to the players.<\/p>\n

Hopefully the ground staff will be working overtime in coming weeks to fix things up and get the playing surface into a better state, otherwise things could get very messy.<\/p>\n

\"Slater<\/p>\n

NRLW STAR'S AWKWARD DOUBLE LIFE\ufeff<\/h3>\n

Now that the NRL and the players union have finally come to terms on a series of issues, players in the NRLW can finally have their contracts ratified.<\/p>\n

But the long months of negotiations without being able to sign legally binding contracts has left one women's player in an embarrassing predicament.<\/p>\n

She has agreed to terms with not one, but TWO clubs!<\/p>\n

Neither wants to budge as far as letting her go – so it could be a case of lawyers at 10 paces\u2026 standby for developments!<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dragons are set to wipe the slate clean after a decade of disappointment – ending the hopes of former club stars Jason Ryles, Ben […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285131"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=285131"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":285133,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285131\/revisions\/285133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=285131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=285131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=285131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}