As NRL teams continue their preparation for the 2026 season, attention will quickly turn to predictions, expectations, performances, and the all-important new recruits.
One of the clubs sweating on a major turnaround are the St George Illawarra Dragons.
2025 was a difficult one for the Red V, but one where the future was on display, with Shane Flanagan's side clearly some distance away, but also with hope.
The Red V managed to get the better of the Canberra Raiders, Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm - three of the 2025 top four - throughout the regular season, and lost a staggering ten games by less than ten points.
Eight of those were by less than six, and three were by a single point.
Learning to win is going to be a big part of the way forward for the Dragons, who have experience in the way of Clint Gutherson, Valentine Holmes and Damien Cook, but are otherwise one of the NRL's younger outfits.
That doesn't have to be a bad thing, of course, and in a couple of years, it won't be if they can keep what is an impressive potential-led forward pack together.
The likes of the Couchman brothers - Toby and Ryan - Loko Pasifiki Tonga, Hamish Stewart and Dylan Egan are all the future of the club, and could well shape the forward pack which delivers the Dragons back to the top of the competition in the coming years.
But that isn't going to happen quickly.
Experience is not something you can coach, but it is one of the most important keys to success around the competition.
The forwards may be inexperienced, but the fastest way to success for the Dragons will be bringing in a halfback who can pilot the team around the park effectively.
For all the talk throughout 2025, Kyle Flanagan simply wasn't good enough in a difficult role. That's partially on him, but it also has to be acknowleged the Dragons' pack wasn't up to the mark for much of the campaign, and that injuries played an enormous role.
The Dragons were the second-most injured team in 2025, with their players missing a combined number of weeks throughout the course of the year that only fell short of the number registered by the South Sydney Rabbitohs, who also ended up at the wrong end of the table.
Despite the attempts to sign multiple big names, the Dragons only have two signings of note for 2026 in Josh Kerr and Daniel Atkinson, but both players could yet steer the Red V in the right direction.
They fill big holes the Dragons had throughout 2025, but whether they are up to the mark of improving the Red V to the level required is up in the air.
Atkinson may enter 2026 as one of the competition's most under-pressure figures.
He has had to do things the hard way. Through the Melbourne Storm system, and then to the Cronulla Sharks, he has always been noted as something of a utility who has struggled to find a permanent place in first-grade, despite his obvious potential and skill.
Atkinson will now go straight into the halfback role at the Dragons, with Flanagan left to compete for the number six against rising star Lyhkan King-Togia.
But Atkinson will be under the pump straight away.
Flanagan, as poor as he was in 2025 at stages, did have some strong games, particularly at the back-end, and has played his best footy in the number six in recent seasons.
Atkinson, on the other hand, has never been the first-choice halfback for a team before.
He will need to find a way to do it, and effectively for a Dragons team where points have been the biggest concern in recent times.
Atkinson's skill set has often been touted as more geared towards five-eighth, but by all reports, he is putting an impressive pre-season together and will look to call on the experience of Cook and Gutherson in the spine, as well as the energy of Jacob Liddle, who is likely to play from the bench again, to point the Dragons' attack in the right direction.
Avoiding an injury toll in the forwards would be incredibly helpful to that plight though, particularly after the club elected not to re-sign stalwart Jack de Belin, who has since shuffled to the Parramatta Eels.
Josh Kerr, who previously played at the Dragons but has since been at the Dolphins, rejoins to add strength to the forward pack.
It's clear Hamish Stewart will be the first-choice lock heading into 2026 for the Red V, leaving Kerr to fight for a starting role at prop.
He could well win it, although the temptation will be there for Flanagan to play Kerr from the bench in a similar role that he had in Redcliffe.
Kerr became one of the game's most impactful bench players during the second half of 2025, regularly turning slow starts into something at the opposite end of the spectrum for the NRL's 17th team.
The Dolphins used Kerr and Ray Stone in similar roles, and the experience he provides off the bench could be a great foil for what will be a young starting forward pack.
His role could well shuffle around, depending on who the Dragons are playing, but there is little doubt Kerr will need a big season leading from the front if the Dragons and Atkinson are to put on the points required.
Either Kerr or Atkinson could well be in the mix for underrated signing of the year if the Dragons put it together and stay consistent, as well as learn how to win the multitude of close games they fell short in during 2025.
Flanagan Junior is the problem.
King-Togia has a lot more upside, but will not get the chance to play first-grade and develop, unless Flanagan Senior finds a new role for his boy.
True, in 2025, Shane Flanagan kept Kyle just because he was his son and they probably would’ve done way better if they put Ilias back into the halfback role.