St George Illawarra Dragons fringe playmaker Joseph O'Neill has extended his time at the club for another year.
O'Neill, who was stuck in the system at the Canterbury Bulldogs, made the move to the Dragons at the start of 2026, and has impressed at NSW Cup level.
Able to play both five-eighth and halfback, the 23-year-old has continued to remain short of a first-grade debut at the struggling Dragons this year.
Originally signing on a development contract, O'Neill has played 15 games at NSW Cup level this year, scoring 6 tries, assisting another 12 and forcing 7 drop outs to go with 364 kicking metres per game and 58 running metres.
O'Neill is set to be stuck behing a logjam of halves at the Dragons next year, with his management confirming the contract extension.
The club will welcome Kodi Nikorima from the Dolphins and Luke Metcalf from the New Zealand Warriors, while Lyhkan King-Togia, Kade Reed, Kyle Flanagan and Daniel Atkinson are also still contracted.
O'Neill will however add more depth to the key positions for head coach Dean Young as he prepares for his first season as a fulltime head coach.
The Dragons are believed to be actively shopping Flanagan and King-Togia, while Atkinson could yet slot in other positions around the side, although will lose access to play fullback by the arrival of Scott Drinkwater, which could also push Clint Gutherson to the centres or wing, taking away another potential role for the former Shark.
It means O'Neill will likely be limited to more NSW Cup in 2027 where he played 42 games for the Canterbury Bulldogs before making the switch to the joint-venture club.
O'Neill is on a run of games to finish the season in reserve grade, however, the Dragons sit in 11th place on the NSW Cup table and are well out of finals contention capping a miserable year for the club who have all but already claimed the wooden spoon.
