{"id":416163,"date":"2026-05-07T11:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T11:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/416163\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T11:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T11:48:08","slug":"scott-drinkwater-drops-major-hint-over-dragons-next-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/416163\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Drinkwater drops major hint over Dragons next coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dean Young<\/a> might be the interim coach at the St George Illawarra Dragons<\/a>, but if marquee recruit Scott Drinkwater<\/a> has anything to do with it, that title will be full time sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

In a revealing series of comments, Drinkwater, who becomes one of two marquee recruits at the struggling Red V alongside current South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a> prop Keaon Koloamatangi<\/a> next year, said Young was the main reason he elected to head to the Dragons, and that he was excited to link back up with Valentine Holmes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I was talking to the CEO, Tim (Watsford), he is very bullish in his approach to how he’s going to get things done,” Drinkwater said on Channel Nine’s Today Show on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“They’ve got a really good crop of young forwards who have played a lot of good footy together. The Couchman twins, Dylan Egan<\/a>, and Hamish Stewart<\/a>… they are only going to get more experienced.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got a good connection with Val (Holmes), so going down there to link back up with him.<\/p>\n

“And I’ve had some really good conversations with Dean Young<\/a>. I think I probably played my best footy when he was at the Cowboys, and he was the main reason why (I signed with the Dragons).<\/p>\n

“There’s a few things that excite me down there.”<\/p>\n

Drinkwater has been given a release by the Cowboys at the end of this season to join the Red V, with the North Queensland club looking to promote Jaxon Purdue<\/a> and Tom Chester<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Dragons, on the other hand, were desperate for a new fullback with Clint Gutherson’s career winding down and a struggle for points ongoing this year.<\/p>\n

That attack, combined with a shaky defence, saw Shane Flanagan<\/a> sacked after seven straight losses, and while Young couldn’t turn it around on Anzac Day before a bye, the Dragons did at least try a few things when it came to the selection table.<\/p>\n

Drinkwater, who is believed to be on about $900,000 per year at the Dragons from 2027 for a three-year period, will immediately become one of the club’s strike weapons, and will be responsible for building a new combination with likely long-term halves combination Daniel Atkinson<\/a> and Kade Reed<\/a>, who debuted against the Roosters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dean Young might be the interim coach at the St George Illawarra Dragons, but if marquee recruit Scott…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-416163","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\/416163","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=416163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}