Ben Hornby has announced that he will retire at seasons end in a move that will hopefully allow the Dragons to go into a fully fledged rebuilding mode.
In recent seasons I think Hornby has been a liability to the Dragons on the field. Playing in the halves, he lacked creativity, his kicking game was poor and when the pressure was on he would go missing, leaving all of the play making duties up to Jamie Soward.
Hornby’s retirement should see a bit of a changing of the guard at the Dragons, and boy do they need it! This is a club that is searching for a new identity under a rookie coach and with a lineup that isn’t all that far away from being a contender again, but one that has some very big holes in it.
There are things I like about the Dragons. Their forward pack for instance has good depth and even this season there have been times where they have stepped up to another level and belted their way to a tough, grinding win.
They desperately need some help in the halves for Jamie Soward, they lack spark out wide and they need to settle on a fullback. In the past they would have looked to their juniors for the players they need but its been a while since the Dragons brought along an outstanding young back from their junior development teams, and that is a worry.
It wouldn’t take much to get back to being a finals team though. This club still has a lot of the toughness that saw them become a true contender for a number of season in the NRL. All they need are the finishing touches.
With Steve Price under pressure from fans, this is going to go one way or the other. There are a lot of very good team in the NRL and a lot of other who also are just a player or two away from making a big leap forward. The Dragons need to have a very productive off season, otherwise they could waste a lot of the title winning experience they still have by watching too many games on TV in September.
