A halves conundrum, Tyrell Sloan and veteran forwards: Five burning questions – St George Illawarra Dragons

The St George Illawarra Dragons are in for something of a make or break season in 2022.

The pressure mounting on the club has reached something of a fever pitch, but after a baffling recruitment run where they have signed a handful of veterans who could be described as “over the hill” to complement an outrageously strong crop of junior talent, Anthony Griffin must produce results.

Aaron Woods, Moses Mbye, George Burgess and Tautayu Moga all strike as odd signings for the Red V, while Jaydn Su’A, Moses Suli and Francis Molo could all have the potential to add something to the club.

Yet, the fact remains - Griffin has now built the team he wants.

This has been his recruitment strategy, and if the young guns fire - think Tyrell Sloan, Jayden Sullivan and Talatau Amone, as well as the Feagai brothers and Zac Lomax - it could set the clu up for the future.

If it doesn’t fire in 2022, then a frustrated fan group who have played just one finals series in a decade will call for heads to roll.

It follows a 2021 season which showed promise at times, but in the end, fell away with a horrid losing streak to the end of the season following the now infamous barbecue gate, when players actively broke COVID restrictions.

It was a case of “what might have been” for the joint venture, but this is a club who need to show exactly what it might have been in 2022.

Here are the burning questions which will define the Dragons season.

Who plays in the halves?
Four players simply won't fit into two - or maybe three if the Dragons opt to run a bench utility - spots.

Ben Hunt is the veteran and captain of the club, so he will quite obviously line up in the halves for the Dragons, but who lines up alongside him is anyone's guess.

Jayden Sullivan and Talatau Amone are the new kids on the block and impressed massively when Hunt was out injured at the back end of last year. Sullivan might have done it from hooker, but Dragons fans got a glimpse of the future with Sloan, Amone and Sullivan all on the field at the same time.

The signing of Moses Mbye complicates things though - and some would probably say unnecessarily so.

The bottom line is that Sullivan is the star of the show. He was the next big thing when he led the Illawarra Steelers - with Amone and Sloan in the team - to the SG Ball Cup in 2019, winning a grand final against a Manly team which featured Josh Schuster and Ben Trbojevic, just to name a few.

Sullivan should be the starter, with Amone coming off the bench. His game style will complement Hunt's perfectly in this instance, and he has the talent to make it in first grade, while his defence is more than up to scratch, which he proved when playing at hooker during the final rounds of 2021.

Can Tyrell Sloan find his feet at fullback?
This is a critical question.

The fact Sloan was on a development contract until about a month ago is baffling, but may indicate the Dragons have some hesitancy over his ability to be a consistent performer in first-grade at this stage of his career.

Despite his enormous talent, playing the week-in, week-out grind of first-grade at a high level has stumped plenty of youngsters before.

Sloan is the man at fullback though. The Dragons can't be tempted in moving a player like Jack Bird to the back, given his ability to play other positions.

That all comes down to Sloan's form.

How will Aaron Woods and George Burgess perform?
The two signings which make little sense are Aaron Woods and George Burgess.

One of, if not the biggest problem for the Dragons last year was their defence in the middle third. Signing two veteran forwards who may struggle to cope with the pace of the modern game seems an odd way to fix that from Griffin and his recruitment staff.

While Burgess and Woods were both once representative calibre players, Burgess hasn't played a top-flight game in 18 months as he recovers from a hip injury, while Woods has struggled to replicate form during his last few years at the Sharks.

As odd as the decision is, the duo do have experience in droves and could well find their way into being serviceable options for the Dragons.

But given the duo, as well as Francis Molo from the Cowboys, are effectively the club's answer to bulk up an underwhelming middle third and replace Paul Vaughan, who was its best performer, the club will need them to be better than serviceable.

Can Mikaele Ravalawa be a difference-maker?
The improvement of Mikaele Ravalawa was one of the few bright spots for the Dragons last year, with the Fijian winger developing into a quality option.

His ball-running, given his size, strength and aggression has always been the best and biggest part of his game, but the way he improved his defence, ball-handling and positional awareness was impressive.

That will need to continue in 2022 - he still has a long way to go.

But at his best, there is no reason why Ravalawa can't be a difference-maker to his club in the way that players like Brian To'o and Josh Addo-Carr are at the Penrith Panthers and Melbourne Storm respectively.

He is well below their level currently, but his improvement leaves hope.

What sort of form can Ben Hunt produce?
Ben Hunt is so critical to the Dragons, and will need to be at his best to avoid calls from fans to play Sullivan and Amone as the halves.

Hunt is the million-dollar man though and has experience at every level of the game.

The Dragons went right off the boil without him at the back end of 2021, and while it has been easy to be critical of his performances at times, at his best, he was the key reason the Dragons won a handful of games last year.

He needs to be that and more this year, but also realise that with the emergence of either Sullivan or Amone next to him in the halves, that his role has changed substantially.

Hunt has an excellent running game - that much we know. It can't be allowed to disappear completely, but he is now the game manager for the club, allowing the kids around him freedom to play their style.

Hunt recently spoke on their abilities, as well as his own happiness at the Dragons.

Happy should be winning though, and it's up to him to deliver in a big way.