St George Illawarra Dragons coach has revealed why Tyrell Sloan has been axed for the second time this season, suggesting patience is needed.
Sloan, who was playing SG Ball during the early exchanges of last year before proceeding into the NSW Cup team, then making his NRL debut at the back end of the year, was a revelation for the Red V.
Impressing in all of his early games at the top level, the form hasn't carried into the 2022 season when given a crack at the number one jersey.
Despite an impressive opening game of the season, Sloan struggled over the following weeks before being dropped.
Back in NSW Cup, Sloan took his team to their first win of the season - then another, and another, and another. It was enough, combined with an injury to Andrew McCullough, to see him brought back into the team with Moses Mbye shifted to hooker.
That lasted all of one week though, with costly errors against the Gold Coast Titans seeing Sloan put back into reserve grade last weekend for Cody Ramsey to have a go.
Ramsey was among the best on ground in the win over the New Zealand Warriors, and it may see Sloan stay in reserve grade for a considerable chunk of time.
Griffin though, speaking on NRL 360 was still singing Sloan's praises.
“Young Sloan is an enormous talent and obviously this time last year he was playing in the (under) 19s,” Griffin said.
“They all mature at different rates and he’s just taking a little bit of time to really grab onto the NRL.
“He is a young exciting player of the future so it’s the present that we’ve got to care for him and help him get right. It’s not a matter of him just going ‘bang’ ... they never do young players. We saw young (Sam) Walker at the Roosters really flatten out at the back end of last year.”
Griffin suggested Sloan still had plenty to learn about playing fullback at NRL level.
“It’s a tough position fullback. You’ve got to organise defensive lines, catch high balls, it’s an individual position as well as a really important team position,” he said.
“So we’re just helping him understand the really important parts of organising defensive lines, obviously catching the balls under pressure and when he gets that right all that stuff that God gave him, all that natural talent will mean even more.”
Sloan struggled during his return to NSW Cup on the weekend, with the Dragons falling 27 points to 20 against the Knights. Sloan only made 84 metres, but will have another chance this weekend against the Canterbury Bulldogs when the two sides meet in reserve grade at 11:30am (AEST) on Saturday.
