2026 pre-season

[TheRev]

Such a stuff up the whole Katoa thing.. all for what is really a meaningless international too..

Wonder if the storm will chase another 2nd rower, probably doesnt affect us either way, but it is 1 less player in the musical chairs game, with possibly more to come from R360 also.

 

[Justadragon]

Flanno will be a dead man walking if we are nowhere after 7 rounds. I don’t know how we will handle Vegas and the games after. Regardless of who we play they will have improved and we are an unknown species with our juniors. Let’s hope it’s Baths babes all over again.

 

[Morgan]

Another season, another prediction for the Dragons to pick up the wooden spoon. If Flanno isn't forced to abandon the very thing they highlighted early in the season, preferably from the trials, I think this might be right.

17th – DRAGONS ​

They’ve added Josh Kerr and Daniel Atkinson, but it might not be enough to spark major change at the Dragons this season, especially when the halves were such a point of contention in 2026. It ramps up the early pressure on Atkinson and Kyle Flanagan, who will need to fire quickly. They start the season in Las Vegas against the Bulldogs and then return home to face Melbourne in Wollongong. And while a great run home keeps them in Sydney for the last month of the competition, the season could be gone by then.

 

[Justadragon]

How many years now has our season been over way before seasons end and on the odd occasion we are fighting it out for 8th spot either our F/A is totally rooted or we fold like a deck of cards. As I said Flanno has about 7 round to sort this halves shitfight out or the media will be straight into him.

 

[Dragons Chris]

Updated top 30. No news on development contracts yet. It's obviously wrong because Flanno said there were 26 so far. Firstly, I think Kade Reed is on a development contract. And Fifita is gone.

DRAGONS Top 30: ​

1. Blake Lawrie (2026),
2. Christian Tuipulotu (2026),
3. Clint Gutherson (2027),
4. Damien Cook (2026),
5. Daniel Atkinson (2028),
6. David Fale (2027),
7. Dylan Egan (2027),
8. Emre Guler (2026),
9. Hame Sele (2026),
10. Hamish Stewart (2029),
11. Jacob Liddle (2028),
12. Jaydn Su’A (2026),
13. Jacob Halangahu (2027),
14. Josh Kerr (2027),
15. Kyle Flanagan (2027),
16. Kade Reed (2028),
17. Loko Pasifiki Tonga (2026),
18. Luciano Leilua (2026),
19. Mathew Feagai (2026),
20. Max Feagai (2026),
21. Michael Molo (2026),
22. Moses Suli (2027),
23. Nick Tsougranis (2027),
24. Ryan Couchman (2027),
25. Toby Couchman (2027),
26. Tyrell Sloan (2026),
27. Valentine Holmes (2027),
28. Viliami Fifita (2025),
29. Nathan Lawson (2026)

 

[Leighton Craig]

Max feagai?

 

[Mug Fan]

Updated top 30. No news on development contracts yet. It's obviously wrong because Flanno said there were 26 so far. Firstly, I think Kade Reed is on a development contract. And Fifita is gone.

DRAGONS Top 30: ​

1. Blake Lawrie (2026),
2. Christian Tuipulotu (2026),
3. Clint Gutherson (2027),
4. Damien Cook (2026),
5. Daniel Atkinson (2028),
6. David Fale (2027),
7. Dylan Egan (2027),
8. Emre Guler (2026),
9. Hame Sele (2026),
10. Hamish Stewart (2029),
11. Jacob Liddle (2028),
12. Jaydn Su’A (2026),
13. Jacob Halangahu (2027),
14. Josh Kerr (2027),
15. Kyle Flanagan (2027),
16. Kade Reed (2028),
17. Loko Pasifiki Tonga (2026),
18. Luciano Leilua (2026),
19. Mathew Feagai (2026),
20. Max Feagai (2026),
21. Michael Molo (2026),
22. Moses Suli (2027),
23. Nick Tsougranis (2027),
24. Ryan Couchman (2027),
25. Toby Couchman (2027),
26. Tyrell Sloan (2026),
27. Valentine Holmes (2027),
28. Viliami Fifita (2025),
29. Nathan Lawson (2026)

FMD where did this shit come from.
Max Feagai
Viliami Fifita
Mick Molo

No Lyhkan King-Togia
Kade Reed Supplementary

 

[Leighton Craig]

Anyone know who this is in the green jersey I don’t recognise him

 

[Mug Fan]

Anyone know who this is in the green jersey I don’t recognise him

Dylan Coutts

 

[Leighton Craig]

He any good? I looked him up and he’s a 2rower I didn’t think we needed anymore second rowers we have plenty of talent here,
Tsougranis, halanghu, Stanley traill and Gaia treweek etc

 

[TheRev]

He must be signed, we wouldnt make that mistake again.. looks like a beast in some highlights I saw.. 2nd row doesn't pass, just runs hard.. looked like a potential middle to me.

 

[Dragons Chris]

FMD where did this shit come from.
Max Feagai
Viliami Fifita
Mick Molo

No Lyhkan King-Togia
Kade Reed Supplementary

Fox Sport

 

[Mug Fan]

He must be signed, we wouldnt make that mistake again.. looks like a beast in some highlights I saw.. 2nd row doesn't pass, just runs hard.. looked like a potential middle to me.

Thankfully only T&T for a few weeks than Cup squad.

 

[TheRev]

Interesting stats on Coutts, he mostly played 80mins in the 2nd row, only has about 60 run metres per game, but a lot of post contact and tackle breaks.. tackle efficiency @ 89.6%.. not awful not but not inspiring.. but with the guys we have in the cup squad 2nd row spot.. they must have something else in mind for him.. looks very athletic and tall.. maybe an athletic prop.. guys like Nick, Jacob and CST though are all genuine 2nd row cup prospects.. possibly 1 of them is in the 1st grade 17 bench though.

 

[Kim]

Anyone know who this is in the green jersey I don’t recognise him

Dylan Coutts. 2024 jersey flegg highlights. Big young man and has some surprising mobility.

 

[Justadragon]

Dylan Coutts. 2024 jersey flegg highlights. Big young man and has some surprising mobility.

Let’s hope he can go all the way. Would make a good centre.

 

[Dragons Chris]

Fox Sport being much less negative on the Dragons than they usually are. This looks like a pretty fair review to me.

---

ST GEORGE-ILLAWARRA DRAGONS​

Premiership window: 2028-2030​

Last title: 2010​

Analysis: The Dragons have opted to rebuild from within with a number of promising juniors coming through their system, so it will take time for Shane Flanagan to get them competing for a title.

In the Couchman brothers Ryan and Toby, Hamish Stewart and Loko Pasifiki Tonga, the Dragons have some exciting forwards to build their pack around in the years to come. But at the moment they look a couple of elite forwards short of being a contender, which is why they went hard for Tino Fa’suamaleuai to build their pack around.

The Dragons have struggled to attract big fish to the club, with Clint Gutherson their best signing from last season, but he is getting to the back end of his career. Daniel Atkinson has the potential to be a solid playmaker, but it remains to be seen if Kyle Flanagan can lead them to where they want to go and with Damien Cook coming towards retirement, the Dragons look a couple of elite spine players short of being genuine title contenders.

Flanagan needs to land a couple of big buys on the open market and hope that his young core can develop to challenge for the title in a couple of seasons, but they won’t be there on grand final day any time soon.

 

[Ryan]

Fox Sport being much less negative on the Dragons than they usually are. This looks like a pretty fair review to me.

---

ST GEORGE-ILLAWARRA DRAGONS​

Premiership window: 2028-2030​

Last title: 2010​

Analysis: The Dragons have opted to rebuild from within with a number of promising juniors coming through their system, so it will take time for Shane Flanagan to get them competing for a title.

In the Couchman brothers Ryan and Toby, Hamish Stewart and Loko Pasifiki Tonga, the Dragons have some exciting forwards to build their pack around in the years to come. But at the moment they look a couple of elite forwards short of being a contender, which is why they went hard for Tino Fa’suamaleuai to build their pack around.

The Dragons have struggled to attract big fish to the club, with Clint Gutherson their best signing from last season, but he is getting to the back end of his career. Daniel Atkinson has the potential to be a solid playmaker, but it remains to be seen if Kyle Flanagan can lead them to where they want to go and with Damien Cook coming towards retirement, the Dragons look a couple of elite spine players short of being genuine title contenders.

Flanagan needs to land a couple of big buys on the open market and hope that his young core can develop to challenge for the title in a couple of seasons, but they won’t be there on grand final day any time soon.

Holmes was a much more important signing and would've almost certainly won Dragons player of the year but for his injury.

But yeah, Gutho and Cook along with Stewart, Su'A and JDB were the only one's who played first grade standard. A few others, like Couchman were just injured for too long to be rated fairly.

Liddle as well but didn't play enough minutes for me.

 

[Mailroomsgi]

Toby Couchman would have got it if he didn’t bust his shoulder IMO. Val was excellent this season too. Cowboys fans acted like we were signing a reserve grader ffs. He just defended better here because Todd Payten has always coached defence to be optional

 

[Ryan]

Toby Couchman would have got it if he didn’t bust his shoulder IMO. Val was excellent this season too. Cowboys fans acted like we were signing a reserve grader ffs. He just defended better here because Todd Payten has always coached defence to be optional

Agree. Stewart must have been close as well even with the games he missed. There weren't really any standouts. Or only in the negative sense of the word there were standouts.