According to The Sydney Morning Herald,ย Dragons officials met with Ryan Matterson's management on Tuesday to discuss a potential player swap with Luciano Leilua.
The potential swap of players could instigate a first round match-up where the Dragons and Tigers face off.
Matterson and Leilua are both currently under contract which can complicate the deal but Tigers believe if the right compensation on a playing or financial basis.
Matterson has recently been excused from training commitments due to "personal reasons."
Leilua has made 43 NRL appearances but is yet to nail a consistent starting spot in Coach Paul McGregor's side, which could fuel a potential move for the 23 year-old.
Due to a salary cap squeeze, Tigers coach Michael Maguire is assessing all his options to offload talent to release the cap pressures. other than Leilua, Maguire is also contemplating the acquisitions of Titans Utility, AJ Bronson and Cronulla star, Matt Moylan.
Yes that would be a much better deal than Matterson ending up at the team south of Sydney
The WT need “player compensation” not financial compensation to release Matterson. It is up to Matterson’s manager to broker a deal that would satisfy the WT, not the other way around. This proposed player swap benefits the Dragons not the Tigers…so a big no, unless they throw in someone like Lomax as well…Stand firm Tigers!…for all intensive purposes Matterson can play Canterbury Cup in 2020-21
I heard that the Sharks offered Moylan in a swap. Moylan is much bet the r than Leilua.
Itโs a good deal for the sharks and after the sharks do this deal they should swap Dugan for Dufty.
This clears lots of cap space for the sharks and also makes the team a lot younger. Sharks actually have quite a few good youngsters Ramien Xerri Mulitalo Katoa Brailey Nikora Hamlin-Uele Magonillis. Getting Matterson and Dufty add to this bunch make a really solid group.
Dufty is one of the worst fullbacks in the game why would anyone want him
Didnโt the dragons already get rid of Dugan? Why would they take him back
Cause Dugan was actually really good last year, and Dufty is hardly one of the worst fullbacks he got so much blame from Dragons supporters bet he would do well elsewhere.
I still like Matterson going to the bulldogs as he is from that area. Maybe swap for Adam Elliot or Will Hopoate
Keep away from Souths Matterson! They are in deep poo. Ahahaha
P!ss off dragons you are dead set morons wanting to swap our most creative forward for Matterson. Swap Lafai or Aitken, but really we need to swap coaches. Honestly we are the stupidest club in the competition if this cr@p is true.
Considering this story is only in it’s infancy I wouldn’t be getting carried away just yet. Potentially it could be a win-win for both clubs, but I’m with Daffy at this stage. It would be a refreshing change to see the Dragons sign a player with a fair amount of ability like Matterson, but the prospect of having Mary as his coach could be a major concern if he wants to go forward in his career.
100% Daffy. Leilua is a bit of conundrum to me. He clearly has enormous ball skills which is something lacking in our forwards, and will only be worse if JDB isnโt back next season. On the other hand, his work/involvement rate leaves a bit to be desired. I can only imagine what a coach like Bellamy would make him into.
Youโre right about Lafai and Aitken too. As someone on this site said before, Lafaiโs as slow as a wet week and hasnโt made a break in years. CB must be gloating at letting him go. And like Kata, Aitken simply doesnโt know how to pass. I just hope those rumours about Lomax going to WT are nothing more than that, he could be anything. What a pity we didnโt still have Garrick with us.
Who’s this AJ Bronson you speak of ๐ good job
Lomax leaving would be the final straw as I know the Raiders were trying to poach him too. We just made Saab a high priority signing and Lomax should be another player to rebuild the backline around. Useless McDudor needs to put Lomax in the centres full time and punt one of Lafai and Aitken. Maybe Flanagan has some sense and will insist Lomax is full-time first grade. Iโm torn on Dufty, he has skills but I hear he has a terrible attitude and McDudor is too weak to fix it. A strong coach would have Dufty firing and upskilling him. If Dufty wonโt listen, Sailor should be the fb next year.
@Daffy, the final straw was ages ago – when McGregor got re-signed for another 2 years at the beginning of the season.
This was when Saints were 4 for 6. Without the two miracle filed goals from Corey Norman we would have been 2 from 6. A much closer reflection of our teams performance under McGregor.
@Phoenix
I mean I would seriously consider tearing up my membership. I’ve been dragons supporter since 1971 but had a gutful of the incompetence that’s been going on for best part of last 15 years other than Bennett’s reign. The so-called Gould review has shown to be a farce and was just a favour for McDudor, not official. The entire board needs to resign as well as McDudor otherwise nothing will ever change, just good players leaving.
I can’t argue with any of that daffy. I renew my rolling membership every year because I don’t want to lose my seats.
Perhaps with Andrew Gordan investing his own hard earned cash we might see a shift towards some sort of semblance of prrofessionalism……..
One can only hope !!