Former Cronulla Shark and grandson of Dragons Immortal Reg Gasnier, Jack A Williams is set to ink a train and trial contract at the club which made his grandfather famous.
The senior Gasnier played 125 for the Dragons between 1959 and 1967, and was one of the first post-war immortals, scoring 127 tries for the club during a period where premierships were won yearly for the famous Red V.
Gasnier, who was born in Mortdale, also played 39 Tests for Australia, scoring 28 tries.
He was then followed by another Gasnier in Mark, who spent all of his NRL career at the famous club, playing 175 games and scoring 92 tries during his time there across two stints, as well as being involved in a drought-breaking 2010 premiership after a stint away in French rugby union.
Now Reg's grandson Jack A Williams is set to join the Dragons on a train and trial contract, according to a Daily Telegraph report. Williams is the son of Reg's daughter Kellie.
Williams has been contracted at the Sharks up until the end of 2021. He is a local junior in the Shire, having played at Caringhbah and for Endeavour Sports High.
He can play in both the halves and at hooker, and may have made a first-grade debut if not for the second-tier competitions being shut down over the last two seasons due to the coronavirus pandemic and a devastating throat injury he sustained during the 2021 pre-season which left him in an induced coma, but amazingly only out of the game for about six weeks.
The Dragons are understandably interested in him given their shortage at hooker, with Andrew McCullough backed up by the out of position Moses Mbye or Jayden Sullivan in their 2022 squad.
An impressive summer will be needed to land a deal in the Dragons' top 30, but coach Anthony Griffin told The Daily Telegraph that Williams is "really skilful."
โWhen we were on the Zoom meeting, someone from our end mentioned it,โ Griffin said.
โWeโre giving him an opportunity in the off-season to train him as a hooker. He has played in the halves at Cronulla but he did a lot of work with them last year in the off-season as a hooker.
โHe didnโt get to play much last year but we have watched a fair bit of tape on him. He is really quick and really skilful.โ
