The St George Illawarra Dragons were riddled with injury in 2025, finishing as the second unhealthiest team in the NRL behind the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Head coach Shane Flanagan is hoping for a much healthier 2026 campaign, and is gearing up for a couple key returns in the first half of the season.
Breakout star Dylan Egan and rugby-convert Nathan Lawson were both hit with injuries in 2025, adding to a nasty injury toll for the Dragons.
Flanagan has lifted the lid on when the pair are due back, which is sure to excite the Red V faithful.
“Dylan Egan, he won't be back until about Round 10,” Flanagan told Zero Tackle.
“He did an ACL.”
He also provided an update on Lawson, the 26-year-old former rugby star, who is also expected to miss a couple of games in 2026.
“Nathan Lawson just had some screws removed from his foot,” Flanagan revealed.
“He's probably [due back] Round 2 or Round 3.”
The Dragons coach admitted the club's awful run of injury was too much to overcome in 2025.
“We had a terrible amount of injuries last year” he said.
“We lost [Ryan Couchman] for the whole year, [Toby Couchman] went for half the year.
“[Valentine Holmes] was out for half the year, Jaydn Sua missed most of the year… we had eight to 10 players that would have been first picked in our team that were out injured for long periods of time.”
While he acknowledged that “a lot of clubs” deal with players bad injury runs, he admitted “you can't win comps if you don't have your players available.”
The return dates for the exciting duo is sure to instil hope in many Dragons buffs, who are hoping for a healthier 2026 campaign.
I have felt for some time that the “Strength and Conditioning coach” is actually more important than the First Grade coach.