Nine games, no wins and a points differential of -185 and just the two points makes tough reading for the St George-Illawarra Dragons fans.
And the enraged Dragons fans are set to be given their chance to vent their feelings to the under-pressure hierarchy.
In fairness to the leadership, they had the self-awareness to call the meeting themselves, knowing that the Dragons faithful would want answers for their horror season.
Management sent out an email last Friday at around 1.04pm inviting fans to hear from CEO Tim Watsford, COO Ben Creagh and head coach Dean Young.
An invite that fans snapped up, with a second email sent out just 39 minutes later saying they had reached capacity.
That is a real signal of intent and the leadership of the struggling Dragons will be braced for a fiery encounter with their fans, so much so that members have been banned from filming the forum.
Tim Watsford (right) is braced for a fiery encounter with fans after inviting members to a forum to discuss the Dragons’ appalling season
Dean Young recently decided to have players on site for eight hour days when they are training in a bid to change results and the culture around the club
Fans are frustrated with the Dragons currently winless from their nine games so far this season
When Watsford was quizzed as to whether the forum will become fiery, he replied ‘Absolutely.’
‘Our fans are up and about and rightly so. We might get a few curly ones (questions), absolutely, but we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t front up.
‘If there are bullets fired at us, some of it is probably misjudged, some of it judged.
‘Our fan base is passionate and we haven’t had success for a while. That’s not a pass mark in anyone’s books and I’m not shying away from that.’
Despite the potential for the forum to turn sour, Watsford reaffirmed his desire to hear from fanbase.
‘You guys, particularly in the media, have been criticising our recruitment over the past couple of years so that will come up,’ he said.
‘My job is to fix it. Fans want answers, they want to win and I can’t argue with that.’
In the original email to members, fans were told kids were not permitted to join the forum.
Please be aware this event is not suitable for children. Unfortunately, we are unable to stream the event online for members who are unable to attend in person,’ the invite read.
A stance that Watsford has since confirmed, stating that it is an ‘adult event.’
He also told fans that they would not be allowed to record their meeting with the fans, ‘We want to try and keep it very much in-house.
‘That’s the way we want to do it from an exclusivity perspective. I do like to speak transparently and openly and there is trust there.
‘We want our messaging directly from my lips and Ben Creagh will be up there with me as well. Where we are going will be the key topic.
‘We have a lot of hard work in front of us and that’s what I will be saying to the members.
‘I’m not saying I have a thick skin.
‘But hopefully I’m a trustworthy and transparent operator and, where I can, I want to be in front of our fans because our members want to express their opinions.
‘The beauty of this club, (especially) in tough times at the moment, is we have plenty of opinions and passion within our fan base and we want to be as open as possible.
‘This was always going to be (at) capacity.
‘I always try to communicate with the fans as much as possible and we want to ensure that we’re on a great trajectory up. We are driving change through all corners of the club.
‘We’re not where we need to be and we know that.’
That may actually be an understatement by the team CEO, with the Dragons losing streak actually reaching back to their last 13 matches.
Recently head coach Dean Young undertook the decision to give the player eight hour working days in an attempt to turn the culture around at the club.
But that has yet to take aeffect with the Dragons shipping 106 points in their last two outings against the Newcastle Knights and Sydney Roosters.
