Dragon David
First Grade
- Messages
- 9,208
Especially if there is a buck or two to be made. As they say "it's only business and you don't mix business with pleasure"!
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Especially if there is a buck or two to be made. As they say "it's only business and you don't mix business with pleasure"!
Well thats sensible of us. We need to hold our line and see what happens. End of the day, LL will go where he wants to go, and its up to his manager to get as much for him as he can and up to us not to overpay and ruin our cap aka Norman. The more I think about this, the more Id like to pass. How long does he has left at the cows? If "No-one" takes him for what he wants then does that mean the cows cant keep Luki etc and we can ask them if they are in fact interested?
We are mostly white/png/Samoa or tongan
900k is spoine money!
I get your point but anything over & more than 2 years plus one year dual option is a bad deal for us, particularly with the back row junior stocks coming through.
100%.
Alarm!! Calling all cars, DNA detected!!
Yep hold our line and see what happens. If we can get LL, he can do plenty for the team and Flanno will be able to get him fitter than he has ever been. LL wants to come back to the Dragons which means a lot. I think he can help our attack which we need as the previous years we have been woeful in that area.
A good read and I'm looking forward to seeing Tyrell play tomorrow night.‘Saving tries is more important than scoring them’: Inside Tyrell Sloan’s rebuild
ByAdam Pengilly
February 16, 2024 — 7.45pm
Save
In the back of a grandstand at the ageing WIN Stadium, a once wiry fullback’s shoulders appear a bit broader than what we’ve seen in the past. There’s more muscle on the arms and chest, too.
How much? We don’t know exactly, because like a lot of wised-up NRL players these days, Tyrell Sloan doesn’t want to publicly declare his new weight. His official player profile says he’s 84kg. He looks like he could even be a bit more.
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But he’s happy to talk about tackling. It might be music to the ears of every long-suffering Dragons fan, who for the last couple of years has watched all the thrills of their new fullback with ball in hand, and lamented all the spills as the last line of defence, no matter how hard he tried.
So, what’s more important to him now: scoring or saving tries?
“Saving,” Sloan fires back. “Definitely saving.”
Really?
“I love scoring tries,” Sloan shrugs. “I’m not going to take that away. But once you get a bit older and start maturing, you recognise the importance of defence as well. It’s not all out attack. It is a lot better when your teammates see you’re putting that effort in. So, saving tries is just as fun as scoring now.”
St George Illawarra Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan.CREDIT:JANIE BARRETT
It’s a major concession for a kid who was so talented as a junior, if the opposition scored five tries, he would simply turn around and say: “I’ll score six”.
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But the NRL doesn’t work like that. And on the eve of Shane Flanagan’s new era at St George Illawarra, starting with the Charity Shield clash with South Sydney on Saturday night, the coach might not have a more important project player than Sloan.
Still just 21, the local junior will have first shot at the fullback spot with Zac Lomax to start the trial at Kogarah on the wing. Sloan smiles when he says he’s happy to play anywhere for the team, whether it be “fullback, wing … or five-eighth”.
Not only has Flanagan taken him out of his comfort zone this pre-season, the club has unwittingly done it too.
Having grown up as one of the Red V’s great white hopes alongside fellow young guns Jayden Sullivan and Junior Amone, Sloan is the last left at the club.
Sullivan was given an early release to take up a four-year deal at the Tigers and Amone was deregistered by the NRL after a court found him guilty of a hammer attack on a tradie in Wollongong.
“I’ve thought about this a bit,” Sloan says. “Those guys are brothers. I grew up with them. It was pretty hard to see how it turned out, not the circumstances, but for those guys as players. I feel like I play my best footy with those two.
“I’ll be honest, I do miss them a lot. Everyone has their own journey. I’m the last one left [of the trio at the Dragons]. That’s just how it is. It’s life. It’s how rugby league works. [But] I love this club. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
At the end of last season, Sloan asked the club if he could play in the Koori Knockout competition on grand final weekend. He returned with a syndesmosis injury which stifled his NRL pre-season (he also had surgery on a thumb ligament problem he said was bothering him last year).
This year, he turned down the chance to represent the Indigenous All-Stars to prioritise his club, a “tough decision” he knew he had to make. He’s hoping it will pay off by the end of the year.
“I remember the first time I got the call-up to play, it was my greatest achievement,” he says. “I don’t want to take away that from making this decision and I was grateful to get asked to play again.
“Coming back now, I feel like I’m holding my weight well. I can feel it in training. I’m more confident going into contact on bigger blokes. Now it’s about putting it all into place.”
Which means the next time an NRL monster like David Fifita or Haumole Olakau’atu is bearing down on him as the last line of the Dragons defence, the broader shoulders of the fullback are ready.
Because, after all, stopping them will be much more enjoyable than simply running around them.
Fair enough. I’d add value to the tpa by allowing modest signage on the players shorts regardless of club stuff.
Who is paying the player?
cool idea.
Will be expensive. Excess for acls etc?!
What does the player get?
So the nrl offers Lucy say $500k and auctions him off for $900 to Canberra?
The plot thickens..!!
A pocket rocket - good attacker and defender and kicks goals effectively. Has plenty of speed and determination. To me has the attributes moreso than Bud Sullivan.
Who is Jonah Glover?
Where is he from ?
Halfback, played cup for the Bulldogs last year I believe and was from the Easts Tigers in Q Cup. Don't know much else about him, although his highlights look decent enough. He is 21. Think he was only on a reserve grade contract, but perhaps been upgraded to a T&T? Not sure if Russell is injured, but probably gives a bit of fuel to the rumour he's been tapped.
