NRL 2025: Teenage Dragons rookies banging the door down for an NRL debut in 2025
They’re the four rising stars at St George Illawarra pushing for an NRL debut in 2025 after impressing coach Shane Flanagan during the pre-season slog.
Pamela Whaley
@pamelawhaley
3 min read
January 16, 2025 - 1:19PM
News Sport Network
NRL: The Dragons are pleased to announce Damien Cook and Clint Gutherson as the club's co-captains for the 2025 NRL season.
They’re the four rising stars at St George Illawarra pushing for an NRL debut in 2025.
While Shane Flanagan keeps one recruitment play up his sleeve with a spot left in his top 30, a group of rookie forwards are rapidly impressing the coach over the summer.
Loko Pasifika Tonga, as well as fellow forwards Dylan Egan, Hamish Stewart and Finau Latu are yet to play first grade, but are likely to debut this season.
“I’d like to think all of those four could play first grade this year, so to have four kids at this stage of the year that I’d be confident in throwing them in, is a good thing,” he said.
The quartet is doing enough to put Flanagan in two minds about waiting for an experienced forward to come on the market or save the final top 30 spot to promote from within.
“We’ve still got one left in our top squad and there’s a little bit of movement down below,” he said.
Dragons rookies in line for debuts.
“It’s a tricky one, do we go and fill up our top squad or do we wait. We saw last year, Corey Allan went down in the first training session after Christmas and we lose a spot there.
“I think if you have a look, most rosters at a lot of clubs have got one spot left. When do you fill it? I’m not quite sure.
“There’s pluses and minuses about whether we fill it internally with one of our good young kids, which gives us space down below. There’s lots of different scenarios depending on what we do, and I’ve got no idea which way I’ll go.”
Tonga in particular is an exciting player of the future.
He recently extended his contract for two seasons and has been compared to a young Payne Haas at the Broncos.
Still only 18, the Dragons’ SG Ball Player of the Year in 2024 has commenced training with the NRL squad ahead of the new season.
“Yeah, and we’ll do that with a couple of other players, we just don’t want good young kids coming off contract, and he had another two years to go,” Flanagan said.
“But a 19-year-old front rower, with his ability and size, some people have said he’s like a Payne Haas and I’m not going to put any pressure on where he is, but you just can’t let those players come off contract if you rate them.
“We’ve got to keep them.”
RECRUITMENT PUZZLE
In his second year at the Dragons, these are the puzzle pieces Flanagan must move to assemble the squad he needs.
Calls to release captain and halfback Ben Hunt as well as star winger Zac Lomax for this season were huge.
In return they recruited Valentine Holmes, Clint Gutherson, Damien Cook and Lachlan Ilias.
“I’m not going to put the blame on anyone else but it’s hard in recruitment phases to get the players of your style or where you want to be,” he said.
“We were really lucky to get Val, Cooky and Gutho, and then you throw Lachy in late, if anyone lost their captain and their halfback when we did, would they recover or would they still be in a good position? I’m not quite sure.
“I think our recruitment and retention has been pretty good. We made some tough, big decisions as a club to let Ben go, to let Lomax go, out of the best interests of the club.
“They’re tough decisions as a coach. I’m selfish as a coach when it comes to winning, I don’t care who is in my team as long as they win.
“There was some big decisions made there, and the club was fully supportive of it, and I still think we’re a better football team this year.”
They’re one of the few clubs without a million-dollar playmaker in the spine, but Flanagan says that will take time to either recruit or develop.
“That’s about management and being in the right position at the right time,” he said.
“I’m really comfortable with the squad we’ve got this year and our depth, but we’ll still be in the market and trying to improve every year.”
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