Squad Breakdown: Dragons SC roster analysis

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St. George Illawarra enter the season off the back of two trial wins over the Rabbitohs and Eels.

They boast a youthful backline filled with attacking upside, balanced out by an experienced pack.

While it’s not terrible, they face a fairly stern opening to the season with games against the  Warriors (A), Panthers (H), Sharks (H), Eels (A) and Rabbitohs (A).

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They aren’t one of the overly relevant SuperCoach clubs, but there are several genuine options, and if they’re an improved outfit in 2022 there’s a case to be made for several purchases.

With our predicted teams, for SuperCoach purposes we’ve included any players returning from injury/suspension in the first three rounds in the starting line-up.

This combines both the likely starting teams and best 17s, as initial price changes occur after Round 3.

Let’s take a look at the Dragons’ SuperCoach prospects to begin the new season.

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PREDICTED TEAM

1. Tyrell Sloan 2. Cody Ramsey 3. Moses Suli 4. Zac Lomax 5. Mikaele Ravalawa 6. Talatau Amone 7. Ben Hunt 8. Blake Lawrie 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Aaron Woods 11. Jack Bird 12. Tariq Sims 13. Jack de Belin

Bench: 14. Moses Mbye 15. George Burgess 16. Francis Molo 17. Jaydn Su’A

Injuries/suspensions: Josh McGuire (suspension, Round 6), Tyrell Fuimaono (Suspension, Round 6), Max Feagai (Long-term)

Analysis: One of the far more difficult clubs to predict their starting 17, in large part due to the uncertainty around where Jack Bird will play.

Early suggestions are that he’ll play in the back-row, and while some are suggesting Jack de Belin will play front-row to accommodate his move to lock, I don’t like it.

De Belin is one of the best link men in the game and plays a key role in the side at lock, while I also think Bird is significantly better used on the edge.

This means Jaydn Su’A would start from the bench, while Aaron Woods is one of several options to partner Blake Lawrie at prop.

Ben Hunt’s halves partner is expected to be Talatau Amone following trials.

As usual, Moses Mbye could play anywhere, but 14 seems his best role.

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GUNS

Zac Lomax // $496,800 // CTW // 2021 Ave: 56.7

Lomax is a genuine SuperCoach gun, who had a relatively underwhelming campaign last year due largely to a few one-sided score lines going against the Dragons.

Look no further than 2020 where he averaged a sublime 68 points per game.

He regressed last year, but still produced a solid 28 in base.

He only played 12 games last season, and prior to injury he was basing a mid-30s average, including games of 44 and 46.

I think he can increase back into the 30s this season.

He has serious attacking upside, and with any improvement in the Dragons he can hopefully add a few more conversions to his SuperCoach scoring.

I’m happy to watch early on as I’m choosing to target attacking players from stronger teams, but I do think Lomax is one that’s perhaps undervalued to start the season.

It's been a challenging season for the Dragons but the emergence of Tyrell Sloan is something to look forward to next season 🔥💥 pic.twitter.com/baVdPAFVrc

— The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup (@NSWCup) September 6, 2021

MID-RANGERS

Tyrell Sloan // $447,500 // CTW-FLB // 2021 Ave: 63.8

Sloan is one I’m extremely interested in due to his availability at CTW.

He’s starting at a discounted rate having played just five games, but a 64 point average is immense when considering it was his first season, and he came in at a stage where the Dragons hit the skids big time post COVID breach.

He’s a serious talent and thanks largely to his speed and game sense, good things happen around him.

He’ll get himself stacks of tries with his support play as a result, and he looks to have some decent ballplaying ability for a young player.

His 22 base isn’t great, but as a lightweight in his first season that’s to be expected.

He did base 35 in his final game last year against the Rabbitohs which is encouraging.

He scored six tries in his first five games in the top grade in a show of his talent.

There’s serious risk associated in that the Dragons have a tough run to start, we don’t know how they’ll perform, and Sloan is very awkwardly priced at $447k.

While I’d love to start with him, I think I’ll watch the opening rounds to answer the above questions, and jump on after the Panthers clash when initial price rises occur if he’s looking the goods.

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BARGAIN BUYS

Talatau Amone // $284,500 // 5/8-CTW // 2021 Ave: 32.5

Most of Amone’s stats are misleading due to playing several positions in mixed minutes last season.

Let’s focus on the final three games of 2021, where he played 80 minutes in the halves.

He had scores of 42, 41 and 76, with 25 base per game which is okay for a half.

He’s shown enough to suggest he’s probably be worth the $284k, again, another slightly awkward price tag.

The dual CTW-5/8 positioning is very handy too.

I think it’ll be tough to leave him out early on, but if there is a decent grouping of cheapies come Round 1 it’ll make the decision a hard one.

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Cody Ramsey // $268,900 // CTW-FLB // 2021 Ave: 30.7

Ramsey starts cheap, but it’s not an overly discounted rate…

He averaged 31 points in 72 minutes last season, with a very poor 17 in base.

He scored six tries in 18 games, so you’d hope this can increase this season.

You wouldn’t want to play him in your 17s, and I get the idea we’ll be forced to go to our benches for numbers a lot more this season.

Unless there’s a dearth of cheapies to start the season, I’ll be avoiding.

If the Dragons fire early and he has a negative breakeven before initial price changes occur, we can consider them.

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AVOIDS

Ben Hunt // $590,300 // HFB // 2021 Ave: 67.3

I’m not entirely against Hunt, particularly with questions around many key halves options, I just want to see what the Dragons produce before genuinely considering him.

There’s a very good SuperCoach player in him with a fairly high ceiling, but if the side are getting belted again, it makes point scoring very difficult.

He’s mixed his scoring around over the past five years, averaging 67, 51, 60, 51 and 58.

This would suggest he’s priced at his upper limit to start the year.

He had two tonnes last season, including a 132 against the Raiders, but also had two scores of 14 and 22 against the Bulldogs and Tigers!

Not for me, but I’m not putting a line through him for the entire season, there’s potential.