Not sure why you think the Illawarra competition is so weak, the majority of the Dragon's good young players come through the Illawarra or South Coast competitions. Even the NSW team had Stewart, Cooper, Fitzgibbon
and Hornby. I'm pretty sure there was one other that I missed.
Illawarra isn't a weak competition but it certainly isn't particularly strong compared to Queensland Cup and NSW Cup IMO. Loads more experience and you all have players pushing for first grade spots, many of which train full time with the top squad just doesn't really compare to those who train once or twice a week for a fun game on the weekend. I have no doubt if you made an Illawarra representative team they would be very competitive though.
Btw, Illawarra/South Coast players currently playing NRL
1. Brett Stewart (Wests Illawarra)
2. Brett Morris (Kiama)
3. Keith Lulia (Port Kembla)
4. Matt Cooper (Shellharbour)
5. Josh Morris (Kiama)
6. Ben Hornby (Corrimal)
7. Matt Head (Dapto)
8. Luke Bailey (Shellharbour)
9. Dean Young (Dapto)
10. Jason Ryles (Wests Illawarra/Berkeley)
11. Craig Fitzgibbon (Dapto)
12. Ashton Sims (Gerringong)
13. Ben Creagh (Wollongong University)
14. Dan Hunt (Shellharbour)
15. Justin Poore (Helensburgh)
16. Glenn Stewart (Wests Illawarra)
17. Steve Southern (Dapto)
Luke Patten was an Illawarra junior (Corrimal?) too, feel free to add to the list if you want