After several years of fighting off extreme pressure, Paul McGregor has finally succumbed and been sacked by the Dragons.
The legendary figure of the club was reportedly told last night that his position was no longer tenable.
McGregor will coach one final game, Friday night's clash with the Eels, before finishing up.
He is expected to inform St George Illawarra players of the decision after the captain's run today.
It is expected that senior assistant coach Dean Young will be installed as an interim head coach to see out the season.
Young is likely to be a candidate for the full-time job, but the Dragons will do an exhaustive search to find the right man to take the club forward.
The elephant in the room is Shane Flanagan, who was brought in by the Dragons to offer McGregor an experienced head and a different voice to help get the message across to the players.
Flanagan is a premiership-winning coach who would be a favoured candidate for the full-time position if not for an NRL ban that hangs over him for misconduct when he was at Cronulla.
That ban will still be in place in 2021 unless the NRL is convinced to relax it, which currently seems unlikely.
Craig FitzGibbon is another strong candidate for the role who may also be off limits due to a handshake deal with Nick Politis that will keep him at the Roosters as a senior assistant coach until the end of next season.
Wayne Bennett is the other name that has been linked with a romantic return to the club he lifted to a premiership in 2010, although he is still contracted to the Rabbitohs next season.
Regardless, it is the end of the road for the doggedly determined McGregor who had the wolves at his door over and over again during his time at the Dragons.
Having already fought off his sacking earlier this season with two consecutive wins over the Sharks and Titans in rounds five and six, McGregor lost the support of a number of his senior players after chopping and changing the team's spine on multiple occasions without finding a winning formula.
The Dragons currently sit 12th on the ladder and are all but out of finals contention.
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