St George Illawarra Dragons head coach Shane Flanagan has all but confirmed the club will target a prop with their cash left available for the 2025 NRL season.
The Dragons have made the key acquisitions of North Queensland Cowboys outside back Valentine Holmes and South Sydney Rabbitohs hooker Damien Cook for 2025 as Flanagan's rebuild of the club - which is already miles ahead of schedule - takes full shape.
The coach has been linked with signing several props in recent weeks.
Flanagan, speaking recently, as good as admitted the Dragons will target a prop, but won't rush into the move for fear of signing the wrong player.
“It's (front-row salary cap space) something that we've got one spot available, so we'll look at it,” Flanagan said per News Corp.
“But once again, you can probably see from our last two previous signings that we need to make sure that we get them right.
“I'd like to think we have and we'll continue to do so.”
Corey Horsburgh and Daniel Saifiti were believed to be the two targets, but it has emerged this week that Reagan Campbell-Gillard is also on the list after he was permitted to head for the exit at the Parramatta Eels.
The North Queensland Cowboys are also believed to be chasing Campbell-Gillard, using the cash freed up by letting Valentine Holmes leave.
It's unclear at this stage who the favourite is for Campbell-Gillard, however, there are believed to be two sticking points, with the prop wanting a three-year deal, and the Eels not willing to chip in any of his $750,000 salary for the 2025 season where he is still contracted in the west of Sydney.
It's understood the Dragons are no closer to signing Campbell-Gillard than they are to negotiating terms for the release of either Daniel Saifiti, who the Knights desperately want off the books, or Horsburgh, who asked for and has since been granted a release at the Raiders after what has been described as a 'breakdown of communication' between the forward who has had an awful year and head coach Ricky Stuart.
The Dragons' rebuild has been leaps and bounds ahead of expectations this season, with the club on track to play finals rugby league this season after their win over the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday afternoon in Wollongong.