St George Illawarra Dragons coach Anthony Griffin is reportedly set to parachute Tariq Sims into his starting 13 for Friday evening's clash against the Penrith Panthers.
Despite not naming Sims on Tuesday after a successful hit out against the Parramatta Eels in the NSW Cup last weekend, it appeared Sims was still going to be at least a week away from kicking off his NRL season.
Instead, Griffin has left Sims in his 19-man squad at Thursday evening's 24-hour before kick-off update, and the Sydney Morning Herald are reporting the coach - who recently had an option picked up in his deal to keep him at the Red V until the end of 2023 - will play Sims.
It's been an eventful week for Sims, who won't be required at the Dragons from the end of 2022.
He has been linked with the Melboure Storm for 2023, while the Victorian club could also yet make a late play for him this season with an immediate switch.
Sims playing in Round 2 would alleviate some of that though, with Griffin saying during the week that while Sims needed more minutes in his legs, he was still a big part of the club's plans moving forward.
It's understood that instead of playing from the bench or at his preferred second row position, Sims will take up a position in the middle third of the park.
He played at prop for the reserve grade side last weekend, and while it was expected Jack Bird would line up in the number 13 jersey this season, it's now rumoured that Sims will take that role after Bird was one of the stars of the Dragons' Round 1 win over the New Zealand Warriors on the edge.
Should Sims take up a spot at lock, it will push Jack de Belin back to the bench, with Jack Gosiewski or Josh Kerr seemingly the most likely to drop out of the side after George Burgess was also added to the bench this week in replacing the injured Aaron Woods.
The Dragons will kick-off against the Penrith Panthers at 6pm (AEDT) on Friday evening.
