The St George Illawarra Dragons are reportedly weighing up a shock double swap for Round 6, with both Blake Lawrie and Mikaele Ravalawa on the chopping block.
The report follows the Dragons' extremely disappointing Round 5 loss in wet and wild conditions on Friday evening against the Newcastle Knights.
The men from the Hunter schooled the Dragons in how to play in those conditions, with the inconsistent Dragons being reduced to a two and three start in their first season under Shane Flanagan.
The coach pulled no punches during his post-game press conference, suggesting change was on the way for the Red V.
Already the Dragons' coach pulled one of the triggers during the Knights' game, moving Tyrell Sloan to the wing during the second half, with Zac Lomax, who is set to be released at the end of the year if not before, taking over fullback duties.
But News Corp are now reporting the changes will get larger, with prop Lawrie and winger Ravalawa - two of the Dragons' stalwarts in recent years - both set to run out in reserve grade next weekend.
Lawrie was the Dragons' player of the year last year, but hasn't had the same impact so far in 2024 after recovering from a pre-season injury.
The disappointing start for the prop, who at one point last year publically declared his intentions to don the sky blue New South Wales State of Origin jersey, has shuffled him down the pecking order and it now seems he will be the man to miss out for the returning Hame Sele.
Sele, who moved back to the Dragons from the South Sydney Rabbitohs during the off-season, has only managed a single game due to injury himself at this point.
Ravalawa meanwhile has improved his game at both ends of the park in recent years, but has been well off the mark numbers wise in running metres to start 2024, while his defence hasn't continued improving.
It's understood Christian Tuipulotu, who was a late off-season pick-up for the Dragons from the Manly Sea Eagles to replace Corey Allan, is the most likely man to come into the side on the wing if Flanagan does pull the trigger.
The Red V also have no guarantees over Jack Bird retaining his centre spot, although he should be fit to play despite sustaining a knee injury against the Knights.
