Similarly, to the Newcastle Knights, the St George Illawarra Dragons were left in the lurch after the departure of legendary coach Wayne Bennett and experienced some seriously lean years, having to contend with an aging and overpaid roster.
However, off the back of a major recruitment and retention overhaul led by club legend and now head coach Paul โMaryโ McGregor and Director of list management Ian Milward, the Dragons have assembled a roster stocked full of representative talent.
While the squad the Red V currently have at their disposal is impressive, this came about as a result of a large-scale revamp in Wollongong, with more than a few favourite sons of the club forced out the door.
Here are the top 10 players the Dragons have let go, not re-signed or released since 2000.
The players have been listed in accordance with the contribution they made whilst at the Dragons as well as considering the influence they have had at the clubs they left the Dragons for.
Honourable mentions: Brett Morris, Luke Bailey, Trent Merrin, Jamie Soward, Trent Barrett
5. Damien Cook
A Dragons junior having been educated at Illawarra Sports High School and playing his junior rugby league with the Helensburgh Tigers, Damien Cook has made a name as being one of the most explosive players in the game.
After leaving high school, Cook departed his hometown to play for the Penrith Panthers NYC team in 2010 and 2011, before heading home to play for the Illawarra Cutters in 2012 and earning a first-grade contract with the St George Illawarra Dragons for the 2013 season.
In Cookโs short stint at his hometown club, he would play only two games of first grade, featuring predominantly as a fullback or five-eighth for the Dragons feeder side. With his impressive performances in the NSW Cup earning him a spot in the NSW Cup Team of the Year.
These impressive performances in reserve grade caught the eye of the Bulldogs, with the Belmore based club signing Cook to two-year deal commencing in 2014.
This deal with the Bulldogs would prove to be a stepping stone for Cook, once again being afforded limited opportunities, making only seven appearances. However, in those appearances Cook proved himself to be a livewire out of dummy half, using his startling pace to cut open opposition teams around the ruck.
Cookโs performances led to a two-year contract with the Rabbitohs, joining the red and green in the hope of nailing down the number 9 jersey, and Cookโs stocks since heading to Redfern have skyrocketed. He has gone onto live up to all the promise he showed in his short stints at the Bulldogs, with his pace out of dummy half making him the gameโs premier attacking hooker.
Heading into his fourth year at Souths, Cook has established himself as the Blues and Kangaroos number one hooker after a breakout 2018 in which he was named Dally M Hooker of the Year.
This fine form at representative and NRL level lead to the Rabbitohs rewarding Cook with a mammoth five-year $4.5 million dollar contract, which should keep Cook in Rabbitohs colours until the end of his career.
Slow news day…
Firstly J Moz left because he could not get a start in front of Gasnier and then Gasnier left and came back half way through the premiership winning season (Obviously to get a ring) which the dragons didn’t need him. Signed for bihg bucks and screwrfd the dragons by retiring early. (He didn’t retire because of injury).
The rest such as Pattern, Ennis, Cook left very young. No one knew they were going to go onto better things
Well said – 100% agree with you.
I wish we could add Tim Lafai to the list……..
Salary cap played a big part in this as did Gasnier with J Moz and Bennett also.
Another contributor is the youth coming through the system, the Dragons can’t keep everyone (ask Penrith fans they’ll agree)
and also injuries (Young, Creagh etc)
The only thing Dragons have got wrong imo is the way they’ve used some of the youth, relied to heavily on the old heads instead of blooding. For example all those times we played De Belin in the halves when younger players would’ve jumped at the chance.
Cheers
Bennet didn’t want J Moz, didn’t think he was up to it. J Moz did not want to leave. More fool us. Can’t believe Leeson Ah Mau isn’t on the list, awesome forward and how’s he going at the worriers?
Luke Bailey deserves far than an honourable mention, Iโd have him at 2 after Fitzgibbon. Iโm also surprised Riddell isnโt on the list, he was more of a loss than someone like Kite.