NRL St. George Illawarra Dragons

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St George Illawarra have suffered a devastating setback as they look to rebuild the club after five-eighth Junior Amone was found guilty on Wednesday morning of assault charges, leaving him facing jail time and casting doubt on his immediate future in the NRL.

Amone and his father Talatau fronted court on Wednesday morning where a verdict was rendered in relation to an incident that occurred late last year in Wollongong. Amone will remain on bail until December, when he will be sentenced.

Amone was initially stood down under the no-fault stand-down policy when he was charged earlier this year but the NRL lifted the ban before the season began and he went on to make 19 appearances for the Dragons this season.

He was set to be a pivotal piece of the club’s planned revival under coach Shane Flanagan but any plans the Dragons had for Amone are now in disarray.

MORE TO COME
 

Dragons’ $5m mega deal to lure Roosters superstar with positional switch — Transfer Whispers

The St George Illawarra Dragons are set to make a bold $5 million mega deal play for Sydney Roosters and New Zealand superstar centre Joey Manu.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported new Dragons coach Shane Flanagan is interested in luring Manu to the club as a fullback.

“I think he would be enormous for our club,” Flanagan told The Herald.

Manu is one of nearly 200 players who come off-contract in 2024 and are free to negotiate with rival clubs for 2025 and beyond as the November 1 deadline arrives.

Jarome Luai, Ezra Mam, Tom Dearden, Tohu Harris, Brandon Smith, Adam Reynolds, Angus Crichton, Bradman Best and Luke Keary are some of the big names available, but there is arguably no bigger star hitting the market than Manu.

The Dragons are prepared to pay a seven-figure sum and offer Manu the chance to play fullback if he is serious about a switch.

The deal would be worth a whopping $1.2 million a season over four years, which would make Manu one of the game’s highest-paid stars annually.

“From what I see when he plays fullback, his involvement is enormous. I think he could make a real fist of it,” Flanagan said.

“I’d love to have him, but I just don’t know if he’s going to move. In the end, it’s not us, it’s not the Roosters, it’s just what Joey wants to do.

“I know he loves the Roosters, I know Nick [Roosters chairman Nick Politis] loves him. Does he want to leave and have a crack at fullback? He obviously won’t get to play too much there.”

The Dragons have Tyrell Sloan and potentially Zac Lomax as fullback options, while Cody Ramsey is bidding to return from an illness that ruled him out of the 2023 season.

The Roosters are well stocked with fullback options with skipper James Tedesco signed until the end of 2025, while Manu and Joseph Suaalii are other options in 2024 should injuries strike.

Manu is seen as a potential replacement for Tedesco at fullback when he hangs up the boots as Suaalii is off to rugby union on a $5 million three-year mega deal of his own in 2025.

Manu can also play five-eighth and has filled in at No.1 and No.6 in the past for the Tri-colours and New Zealand with great success.

The 27-year-old was chased hard by the Warriors the last time he came off-contract with the carrot of a million-a-season deal to replace fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who switched to rugby union.

However, Manu chose to stay loyal to the Roosters and the club and player have seen him as a one-club man who will finish his career at the Tri-colours in the past.

However, the Roosters may not have the money in their salary cap to compete with the deal from the Dragons and Manu may have to take another financial sacrifice to stay at the Bondi club.

Manu has scored 59 tries in 158 NRL games for the Roosters since his debut in 2016 and won two premierships with the club in 2018 and 2019, while he has also scored six tries in 16 Tests for the Kiwis.

Manu will play centre for New Zealand against Australia in the Pacific Championship final on Saturday.

Am I the only one that thinks talking this openly about a player on another team is a little bit fucked? It's one thing for Wayne to have been doing it last year, because they were an upstart, and y'know, it is the greatest coach of all time- it is another thing for Flanagan and the Dragons.

Also, am I wrong in thinking that Flanagan has already said Temu Joey Manu/Lomax is getting the first crack at FB next year? Wouldn't exactly fill him with confidence having his coach already planning a replacement before the season starts..
 
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Also, am I wrong in thinking that Flanagan has already said Temu Joey Manu/Lomax is getting the first crack at FB next year? Wouldn't exactly fill him with confidence having his coach already planning a replacement before the season starts..
Lomax wants to play 5/8.

Am I the only one that thinks talking this openly about a player on another team is a little bit fucked? It's one thing for Wayne to have been doing it last year, because they were an upstart, and y'know, it is the greatest coach of all time- it is another thing for Flanagan and the Dragons.
Wasnt the Warriors guilty of exactly the same thing last time around with Manu?
 
Wasnt the Warriors guilty of exactly the same thing last time around with Manu?

I didn't think Cam George or Nathan Brown had come out talking about Manu at all? at least not like that. Obviously, there were reports getting out on a near-daily basis, but I don't think they addressed that head on.

If they did, I'd be surprised if it was any more than the usual- a reporter saying "Are you guys chasing X player" and X coach saying "He is a great player that any club would be lucky to have" sort of thing.

Idk, while I do like more transparency and Flanagan was spitting facts, I just think it was kind of full-on lol
 
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Dragons want Fonua-Blake if Warriors grant him early release
St George Illawarra are the early frontrunners for Addin Fonua-Blake’s services after the superstar prop requested an immediate release from his deal with the New Zealand Warriors.
Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has confirmed the club has the salary cap space and the appetite to lure Fonua-Blake back to his junior club from next season if he was granted a release from his deal at the Warriors on compassionate grounds.

Fonua-Blake is on a deal worth around $1 million a season and the Dragons are desperate to add some starch and firepower to their forward pack.
The new Dragons coach confirmed the club wanted to bring Fonua-Blake, who wants to return to Australia to be closer to his parents, back to the Red V.

“I’m more than interested,” Flanagan told this masthead. “He has some history here with the club. He played under Dean Young as a junior. I’m always looking for quality players and he’s a very good one.”
The Warriors issued a statement confirming that Fonua-Blake had requested a release. Chief executive Cameron George said the club is considering the request.

The Bulldogs are also on the lookout for a premier front-rower but are unlikely to have the salary cap space to fit him into the squad in 2024 without making adjustments to their roster given the number of signings they have made for next season.

Yeah nah, I’m doubling down, screw this dude. Cheating pricks been back as a head coach of like 5 minutes and is toeing the line already
 
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This is funny 😂

Shane Flanagan plans to adopt the cloak and dagger of his old Sharks set-up, given the Dragons boast millions of dollars more in free salary cap space than their rivals but are yet to land a marquee signing.

Flanagan has been refreshingly honest in identifying key transfer targets since being announced as St George Illawarra coach – with Addin Fonua-Blake, Tom Dearden, Joey Manu, Jack Welsby, Heilum Luki and Kulikefu Finefeuiaki all mentioned, and pursued to vastly different degrees.

Hopefully someone else can copy paste the rest. Gonna end up throwing my phone at the wall 😂 struggling to select the right bits.
 
Shane Millard is newly installed into his role as recruitment and pathways manager, but already has his eye set on building a Dragons Academy in New Zealand, which will be run by club legend Jason Nightingale
All these rival nrl clubs must be running out of catchment areas to harvest our players from, where's this dragons academy based, Dunedin?
 
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These teams setting up academies here will mean we will need to have our act together in terms of development. Winning will help as kids will want to be a Warrior.

It will be good for the sport here in that more money will be invested.

Hopefully it means more kids stay in New Zealand. It's been a while since I've seen an article on the number of kids leaving NZ for Australia to try and make it in the NRL. It was pretty staggering. I can understand as it also means more opportunities for their families as well. In some instances it will be kids moving over there by themselves. So having more here in NZ with their family and support networks would be good.
 
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