Shane Flanagan's pursuit to revamp the St George Illawarra Dragons took possibly its biggest step a few weeks ago with confirmation the club had signed Damien Cook from the South Sydney Rabbitohs from the start of the 2025 NRL season.
The coach has been ruthless in attempting to reshape the club, but then, he had to be if the joint-venture were going to begin their push to move back into finals contention on a yearly basis.
The Dragons were abysmal under Anthony Griffin, and needed to find a way to be built different moving forward. Everything from recruitment and retention, to match strategy, and the overall fitness of the squad has been placed under the microscope since Flanagan arrived in Wollongong last November.
It was either shape up to the Flanagan regime, or ship out. And you could make an argument that almost every player in the squad has improved this year.
The only members of the playing group that seemingly have gone backwards are the club's 2023 best player at the Red V Blake Lawrie, and Fijian winger Mikaele Ravalawa, who this week has been linked to a move to the English Super League.
The Dragons are reportedly looking to free up salary cap space, although, truthfully, it's hard to understand how the club don't already have money to play with.
Any effort to move on Ravalawa smells of Flanagan's continued effort to reshape the squad, and bring through youth talent, which has been all but a discarded area of the club's development over the last decade, despite having the Illawarra zone to work with, which has always been one of rugby league's biggest nurseries for talent.
But it's one of the players that came from that nursery in Damien Cook who has drawn all the attention talking about the future of the Dragons in the last couple of weeks.
After speculation he would be released by the Rabbitohs to take up a deal, the news was eventually confirmed, and Cook will move back to the club he began his career at for the next two years - likely the last two of his career.
The opinion amongst fans of both the Dragons and Rabbitohs has been mixed, and understandably so. It's a polarising issue, that much is clear, with some suggesting Cook is probably past it, and others suggesting he still has plenty to bring to the table over the next 24 months.
The former junior state NSW Surf Living Champion who played his junior rugby league for the Helensburgh Tigers brings, maybe more importantly than anything else, a whole heap of experience to a Dragons team which is chock full of young talent and needs guidance.
As mentioned before, the Dragons have had a horror show both developing their own junior talent, and retaining them over the last decade. You could speak until you're blue in the face about the players who have turned out to be strong options for other clubs, but also about players who haven't hit their potential.
Tyrell Sloan is the latest of those that the Dragons will be desperate to have hit his peak in the coming years, while there are a number of players on the fringes of first grade right now - players like Sione Finau, Connor Muhleisen, the Couchman brothers and, beyond that, the likes of junior Origin duo Jacob Halangahu and Loko Pasifika Tonga, as well as Jackson Shereb, Dylan Egan, Josh Corry, Corey Ackers and Hamish Stewart who will undoubtedly learn plenty off a veteran with New South Wales State of Origin experience under his belt.
Then there is the likely benefit for Jacob Liddle in learning at training for the next two years from Cook. It's hard to find a negative there.
You could make the very easy argument that Cook will provide more off the field for the Dragons and Flanagan's coaching staff than he will on it.
But on the field, he is still going to have a big role to play.
Make no mistake, this is not Chad Townsend going to the Sydney Roosters because he has other interests, wants to be in Sydney and has taken a deal which essentially resigns him to the NSW Cup while Trent Robinson's side are at full strength.
This is Damien Cook, who believes he still has a point to prove away from the club he has spent most of his career, and at a club close to his heart.
We mentioned Liddle before, but the combination Cook and Liddle will have creates an intriguing dynamic for the Red V.
Liddle realistically is the future and still needs to play the main role, but that in itself could make Cook all the more dangerous.
of the Dragons passes during the NRL Trial Match between the St George Illawarra Dragons and St Helens at WIN Stadium on February 11, 2023 in Wollongong, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
South Sydney use Cook as a starter, but whether that sees out the year remains to be seen. Dragons fans could well get a taste of what is to come if interim coach Ben Hornby promotes Peter Mamouzelos into the starting side.
What realistically should be happening at the Dragons next year is Cook doing just that - playing off the bench, and dominating the middle 20 or 25 minute period of the game. The Dragons have enough big-minute forwards to have two specialist dummy halves in the game, and as has happened at South Sydney from time to time this year, Cook can slot into other positions if needed.
That means Cook finishing his career off the bench, where he provides spark and cover, should be the best way forward for the Dragons, while Liddle's game will also go to another level not playing the full 80 minutes.
It's a win-win from the Dragons, and given it's understood the Rabbitohs are paying a chunk of Cook's salary, it's a low-risk one at that for the Red V.
It has been rare in recent years for the Dragons to have a win in the transfer market, but it's hard to paint this as a loss.
If it works, and the Dragons really do head into 2025 built different, it could be the best move the club have made off the field in their nearly 30-year history.
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