League icon Andrew Johns says “questions need to be asked” over what led to Jason Ryles’ 11th-hour backflip on joining the Dragons as their new head coach.
Ryles was widely expected to be the full-time successor to Anthony Griffin, but backflipped at the last minute, instead joining the Melbourne Storm as an assistant.
Speaking on Wide World of Sports’ Freddy and The Eighth, Johns was highly critical of the Dragons for losing out on Ryles, suggesting he should’ve been given whatever he required in order to sign as the club’s next coach.
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“He was going to sign, something is wrong there,” he said.
“He wanted something in the clause … He’s the boss, whatever he asked (for) he should’ve been given, whether it was about his staff or his recruitment or whatever.
“Questions have got to be asked from within the Dragons how they buggered this one up.
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“Jason Ryles played for the Dragons, he lives down there, he wanted to do it. How they stuffed up this one, questions need to be asked.
“I think he pretty much agreed; that’s what it looks like from the outside. He’s then gone in and said to them, ‘Well, I want this’, and they’ve said, ‘You’re not getting that’.”
To make matters worse for the Dragons, talisman Ben Hunt could leave the club if he’s forced to play the No.9 role full-time.
Johns said he understood where the 33-year-old was coming from.
“Ben Hunt is 32. Does he want to play the last two years of his career playing hooker? No chance,” he said.
“At this stage of his career, you look at Origin footy and his rep career, hooker is his spot, (but) at clubland playing 26 rounds week-in, week-out at 32, that’s a big, big challenge.”
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