{"id":589840,"date":"2026-04-06T20:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/589840\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:58:19","slug":"valentine-holmes-clint-gutherson-signings-questioned-amid-teams-struggles-in-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/589840\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentine Holmes, Clint Gutherson signings questioned amid team\u2019s struggles in 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DanSave<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

Admittedly, it\u2019s a hot field for long-suffering Dragons fans.<\/p>\n

But the most galling thing of all in the club\u2019s current plight<\/a> might be the jealous glances across the back fence at two of their closest neighbours and fellow underachievers of the past decade.<\/p>\n

At the end of 2023, Wests Tigers, the Dragons and Bulldogs finished 17th, 16th and 15th respectively.<\/p>\n

Even with another Tigers wooden spoon since, two of the three clubs have rebuilt, revamped and recruited their way out of the mire.<\/p>\n

St George Illawarra shot up to within a win or so of the 2024 finals, shot right back down and sit once again with a coach in the crosshairs, a badly misshapen roster and seemingly once more years of rebuilding ahead of them.<\/p>\n

Another demoralising loss to Manly on Friday could well hasten what feels an inevitable end for Shane Flanagan, though the Dragons\u2019 hierarchy has stressed its support for the coach throughout an 0-5 start to the year.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Red V roster woes: Valentine Holmes, Shane Flanagan and Ben Hunt.Artwork: Jamie Brown<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, officials talk of significant club-wide change<\/a>, just as Canterbury and Wests Tigers counterparts did for years.<\/p>\n

But where the Bulldogs rebuild gathered momentum with the signings of Matt Burton, Viliame Kikau, Reed Mahoney and Stephen Crichton \u2013 and with Cameron Ciraldo coaching astutely and Phil Gould able to sell ice to the eskimos \u2013 the Dragons\u2019 big-money recruits are among their biggest problems.<\/p>\n

The Tigers remain only five minutes away from another boardroom blow-up, with Shane Richardson\u2019s exit as CEO<\/a> still fresh in the memory. But Jarome Luai, Api Koroisau, the May brothers and Fainu trio form a core of signings devoted to coach Benji Marshall, having joined the club to play under him.<\/p>\n

Struggling clubs have forever had to pay \u201covers\u201d to land game-changing recruits. Canterbury and the Tigers \u2013 and the list of star signings above \u2013 are no exceptions.<\/p>\n

\"ClintClint Gutherson\u2019s days at fullback appear to be numbered.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Neither are St George Illawarra. Keaon Koloamatangi arrives in 2027 on a five-year, $5 million-plus deal, with the Dragons offering an extra season<\/a> that the Rabbitohs and Eels baulked at.<\/p>\n

Koloamatangi is their first marquee signing after years of scrambling and coming up short in a scrapper\u2019s market. But that won\u2019t necessarily change now either.<\/p>\n

Under Flanagan and predecessor Anthony Griffin, the Dragons have notably signed a cast of veteran recruits, often with their previous clubs paying freight to move them on.<\/p>\n

Valentine Holmes (30), Clint Gutherson (31) and Damien Cook (34) were signed in late-2024 with Flanagan valuing their experience and professionalism, and each offering exactly that for much of last year.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Dragons are the only side yet to win a game this season.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Lining them up alongside a bright crop of local juniors (Dylan Egan, Kade Reed, Hamish Stewart and the Couchman twins<\/a>) was sound enough as Flanagan reshaped a roster to play his preferred tough, reasonably conservative, effort-based footy.<\/p>\n

But with Holmes struggling for form, a salary of about $900,000 to play centre (typically one of the cheaper positions to fill in an NRL roster) is a millstone and a figure that dwarfs the Dragons\u2019 investment in their halves.<\/p>\n

Especially when Gutherson is on similar money without any chip-in from Parramatta. While he is playing his backside off as always, he looks increasingly off the pace as an NRL fullback.<\/p>\n

Holmes and Gutherson are signed until the end of 2027 and, like Cook, their best years are behind them, which each of their previous clubs could see.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Ben Hunt saga<\/a> from two years ago, meanwhile, has left the Dragons hunting for a halfback when there is a dire shortage of them.<\/p>\n

Cronulla had been eyeing a potential shift to fullback for Daniel Atkinson \u2013 a move that could have suited his running game far better than the game-managing No.7 role the Dragons are paying about $500,000 a year for.<\/p>\n

An elite playmaker has been on Flanagan\u2019s wishlist for some time, but privately player agents point to the way Lachlan Ilias and Jonah Glover couldn\u2019t get a look in at the Dragons as reason to shop their clients elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The suggestion Kyle Flanagan could tip Atkinson out of the halfback role \u2013 as underwhelming as he was against the Cowboys \u2013 if he\u2019s fit to return from a heavy head knock, will do nothing to dispel that, even if Flanagan is the club\u2019s best organising No.7.<\/p>\n

\"KyleKyle Flanagan is in line for an NRL return this week.Getty Images<\/p>\n

With Flanagan senior\u2019s future under the microscope, an email landed with relevant player managers on Sunday telling them all extension talks with the Dragons are on hold for now<\/a>, including well-advanced negotiations on Cook\u2019s new one-year deal.<\/p>\n

Prop Blake Lawrie and Luciano Leilua are the biggest earners on St George Illawarra\u2019s off-contract list and two of their best-paid forwards, along with Queensland Origin representative Jaydn Su\u2019A (who has an option for 2027 in his favour).<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s new recruitment boss, Daniel Anderson, has room to move with their roster and an impressive track record in fostering the generation of young forwards and playmakers emerging at the Roosters.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Shane<\/a><\/p>\n

But he is also wading into a market where player values are skewed by the new Perth and PNG franchises, the latter with lucrative tax exemptions.<\/p>\n

The Dragons are rightly staking plenty on their latest crop of juniors, too. But again, it\u2019s not for the first time that line has been pushed.<\/p>\n

Bud Sullivan, Junior Amone and Tyrell Sloan were the last batch of south coast stars touted for big things. Sloan is now the only one left at the club, but was given permission to explore an early exit last year (albeit with serious off-field incidents rubbing Amone out of the game).<\/p>\n

Beleaguered Dragons fans could be forgiven reasonable scepticism too regarding the club\u2019s recent backline targets, Titans veteran Phil Sami and Dolphins utility Trai Fuller, who would come with more speed than star power.<\/p>\n

As galling as it might be, at least the Bulldogs and Tigers offer hope, and maybe instruction, in how to turn a roster around.<\/p>\n

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\"DanDan Walsh<\/a> is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-589840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}