{"id":366700,"date":"2026-04-06T19:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/366700\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T19:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:46:18","slug":"dragons-make-shock-club-wide-contract-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/366700\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragons make shock club wide contract decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St George Illawarra Dragons<\/a> have reportedly put a freeze on all contract negotiations with the current playing group after their horror start to the year.<\/p>\n

In the wake of what is the club’s fifth straight loss to start 2026 – and ninth straight if the end of 2025 is included in the statistic – the Red V are believed to have told player managers that all contract negotiations have been suspended.<\/p>\n

it comes with head coach Shane Flanagan<\/a> also under considerable pressure, although it’s not believed the club are ready to make a call on their head coach, who won a premiership back in 2016 with the Cronulla Sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

OPINION: Shane Flanagan has to go, but he isn’t the only one<\/a><\/p>\n

The Red V were believed to be well advanced into contract negotiations with Damien Cook<\/a> in recent times, but he has now been informed that deal is no longer on the table.<\/p>\n

Cook wants to play on into 2027 rather than retire, but his performance on Saturday night was poor.<\/p>\n

The remainer of the Dragons’ squad are also under the microscope, with a host of players including Mathew Feagai<\/a>, Emre Guler<\/a>, Blake Lawrie<\/a>, Nathan Lawson<\/a>, Luciano Leilua<\/a>, Hame Sele<\/a>, Tyrell Sloan<\/a> and Christian Tuipulotu<\/a> off-contract at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Of that group, it’s believed Tyrell Sloan<\/a> is the most likely to leave, but if the Dragons go for a full roster overhaul, it could be among the biggest in the sport’s history.<\/p>\n

Jaydn Su’A<\/a> is also yet to take up an option in his deal for 2026.<\/p>\n

What is unclear is whether the Dragons will also pull deals off the table for players external.<\/p>\n

While they have already signed Keaon Koloamatangi<\/a> for 2026, it’s believed they are in the market for a fullback, with discussions ongoing.<\/p>\n

Trai Fuller<\/a> could join the club immediately given a clause in his Dolphins’ deal, while they have also been linked to Scott Drinkwater<\/a> and Jahream Bula<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St George Illawarra Dragons have reportedly put a freeze on all contract negotiations with the current playing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-366700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}