Heir apparent: Bulked-up Sloan stakes claim for Dragons fullback jumper

Bulked-up Illawarra junior Tyrell Sloan appears set to win the offseason race for the Dragons fullback jumper as coach Anthony Griffin looks to the club’s youth in his ongoing Red V rebuild.

Sloan is the frontrunner for the famous Dragons jumper, The Sporting Base has heard, and will beat Cody Ramsey to the no.1 starting spot come NRL 2022’s opening game.

The 19-year-old made his St George Illawarra debut in round 15 last year, scoring his first NRL try in a 22-20 comeback over the Raiders in front of all his Illawarra fans. He went on to play four more games in the 2021 season, scoring six tries and sealing the fate of incumbent fullback Matt Dufty — now at the Bulldogs — in the process.

Dufty’s exit left Sloan and Cody Ramsey, who has played the majority of his NRL top-flight games on the wing, tussling for the top-spot jersey at the back. That in-club civil war appears to be over, however, with Hook reportedly telling Sloan the no.1 jumper is his to lose.

It’s come with a personal mission for the youngster though: pack on the pounds.

Sloan was a shrimpy 75 kilograms at the beginning of last preseason, when he first got his beak wet in first-grade training, and has been set a highwater weight mark of 90kg for next year.

“My goal is to come back heavier,” Sloan explained. “I had a good off-season. I came in at 75kg last preseason, now I’m 88kg. I’ve been told, I want to get to 90kgs,” he added. “I feel stronger. We get fed at training, but the club is always making sure I’m eating more.

He laughed: “We have ‘Sloaney Smoothies’ and I’m always making protein shakes for the boys.”

Sloan’s weight wasn’t the only focus the 19-year-old has been following in Wollongong as the Christmas break fast approaches. Hook also took him aside midway through the return to camp, and gave him a direction for his playstyle — defend, defend, defend.

“He wants me to be the best defensive fullback in the game,” Sloan said.

“When I first came into first grade I didn’t have much of a clue about my defensive splits,” the youngster admitted, “but [Hook] said, ‘You need to be the best defensive person in the team, and that doesn’t mean tackling but organising guys into position. So that’s really been what I’ve been mainly working on heading into next year.”

The Dapto junior’s focus will be music to Red V faithfuls’ ears, especially considering he already had a stronger tackle efficiency (76.5% from 52 attempts) than his predecessor, outgoing star Dufty.

Sloan’s quest for the no.1 jumper doesn’t stop at the Dragons either. According to the 19-year-old, he has a second fullback spot in his sights for 2022: when the All Stars game is played next year, his greatest desire is to run out as the team’s back pivot.

The move would replace Latrell Mitchell, who has declared his intentions to move back into the centres for next season after a stint at fullback.

“I’m a Koori boy, a proud Wiradjuri man, and it would be a dream come true. I grew up watching Matty Bowen and Johnathan Thurston, I idolised those guys, and still do. To play in that game, which will be in Sydney for the first time, it would be great. We have Indigenous Round and we have All Stars, but we could do even more to celebrate Indigenous culture.”

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“My nan raised me since I was two months old,” the young Dragons star said. “and she taught me a lot about my Indigenous heritage. That [playing in the All Stars game] is a goal, for sure.”

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