St George Illawarra fullback Matt Dufty has re-signed with the Dragons for a further two seasons, putting an end to rumours that he was on the outer with the club.
Dufty will now remain with the Red V until the end of 2021.
There had been plenty of speculation that Dufty was set to leave the Dragons, with suggestions there would be limited space in first-grade with the signing of Corey Norman.
But with Gareth Widdop already leaving the club at the end of 2019, it seems Dufty is happy to bide his time and look to make the fullback position his own in 2020.
"I'm very happy about re-signing for another two years. It wasn't a difficult decision. The Dragons is somewhere where I think I could play my best footy and where I wanted to stay," Dufty said on the club website.
"I feel like a weight has been lifted. I've had it over my head for a while now and I'm glad the positive discussions I've had with the club has ended this way.
"I'm really excited for this year to come. I'm not sure where I'll play but it's a good headache for Mary (coach Paul McGregor) to have.
"We have all been playing different positions, trying to get our different combinations sorted and with the strike force we have, it's exciting to see how we all play."
Perhaps Dufty should get a run in the centres. The Dragons three-quarters are not the fastest going around.
Defending in the centres is hard enough.
He will have to play utility for the year then go from there.
I reckon he’ll either be on the wing or as a strike utility off the bench.
The big question who out of Lafai or Aitken misses out for Lomax?
Zac needs to be the first centre picked in my opinion
Cheers
Ps. Oh and from a previous story players who don’t sing the anthem at rep footy need to take a long hard look at themselves and learn a thing or two about history.
Doesn’t happen in any other countries, all teams be it from whatever sport sing their anthem loud and proud.
Umm did you not see in the NFL last year where African Americans were taking a knee during the anthem?
I don’t agree with them not singing the anthem but just pointing out it’s been done before.
They have nothing to apologise for. Good on them. And it’s a pathetic anthem anyway, never sung it my life.
G’day Kev.
NFL? I was more thinking about cricket, soccer, union etc where there’s a lot of international matches played
Cheers
Too small for the centres dude, he’d have a hard time trying contain the likes of Mitchell or Inglis.
Leave it alone fellas, stir up too much rubbish. Let’s stick to footy, there’s enough drama queens on ZT lately.
Not too sure what’s happening with Dufty but I’d be surprised if Aitken and Lafai are not the starting 3 and 4, Mary is pretty tight with those two. Lomax May have to start on the wing and go from there
Hey CMTD, Zac needs to start and Lafai can have a rest on the side line. Zac has been patient enough for us – dont want to loose him.
Dufty should either start at fullback in first grade or start at fullback in ISP. I would start with him in first grade.
As for our centres. I wouldn’t have either Lafai or Aitken as either of our centres, but I expect them to both be picked as our centres. I would actually start with Dufty at fullback, with Widdop and Lomax at centre. I expect Widdop to be picked at fullback and think he will go well there.
I’ve only seen Dufty play on the TV games, seemed to go really well at fullback. Centres and wingers these days are well over 6 foot and 90kg+.
Where is Panthers Girl, who I called The Off Field Drama Queen?
Don’t worry Devout Saint, she’ll be back when the season starts with another modification to her name
Turn it up daffy. What’s been up your nose lately? You have become somewhat cynical and a little aggro. When you first come onto this site you were much more polite and measured in your comments. What’s happened?
I hope it is the first sign of unloading Lafai, but I wouldn’t hold my breathe.
Lafai signed a 3 year extension a couple of years ago after a pre-season boot-camp – allegedly for showing “great” leadership.
It’s a pity he is as slow as a wet week & hasn’t broken a tackle in 2 seasons.
Agreed about Lomax being the first centre picked. With a fair bit of reservation I’d probably pick Lafai ahead of Aitken as the other centre. No way would I put Aitken inside of Lomax, Zac would die of cold playing on the wing outside him. Aitken is like Kata at at NZ Warriors – great runner of the ball but zero skill, I reckon that combined they won’t throw 10 passes this season. At least Lafai has some skill. Aitken can fight it out with Dufty, Perera et al for the wing spots.
You’re being kind to him, mate. But at least he has some skill – something that Aitken lacks utterly.