Shock rumours have emerged surrounding a potential departure from the St George Illawarra Dragons for young gun Tyrell Sloan.
Less than 24 hours after coach Anthony Griffin called for patience over the dropped youngster, Sloan has reportedly told close friends he sees no future at the club, according to a Wide World of Sports report.
Sloan was awarded the number one jersey to begin the 2022 season after breaking out into first-grade at the back end of the 2021 season.
Those handful of games saw him join a youthful and exciting spine which also featured Talatau Amone and Jayden Sullivan.
2022 brought with it a strong first outing against the New Zealand Warriors, but little in the weeks that followed, eventually dropped after a horrid performance in wet weather during Round 3 against the Cronulla Sharks.
Moses Mbye would become the Dragons' fullback, and hold onto the role until he was shuffled back to hooker in the face of injury to veteran Andrew McCullough.
Sloan's recall in Round 10 against the Gold Coast Titans was marred by costly errors however, and Cody Ramsey would be his replacement for Round 11s win against the New Zealand Warriors.
Ramsey ran for over 200 metres and was one of the best on ground for the Red V in the win, seemingly locking up the number one jersey for the foreseeable future.
Sloan, at just 19 years of age, scored six tries in five games last year, and showed strong form in the NSW Cup to earn his recall.
However, despite signing a new three-year deal at the start of the year which locks him into the Dragons until the end of 2024, it's understood the Dolphins and Wayne Bennett have been sniffing around to lure the youngster north if he could receive a release from the Red V.
His confidence is understandably shaken, and a performance against the Knights in the NSW Cup on the weekend brought little joy in the young gun's direction.
He isn't the only re-signed youngster struggling for game time at the Dragons, with McCullough's return seeing Jayden Sullivan - who was also signed on a new deal, but currently stuck behind Talatau Amone for the five-eighth role - dropped for this weekend.
Griffin, speaking on NRL 360 earlier this week, called for patience, and explained that Sloan still had plenty to learn.
โYoung Sloan is an enormous talent and obviously this time last year he was playing in the (under) 19s,โ Griffin said.
โThey all mature at different rates and heโs just taking a little bit of time to really grab onto the NRL.
โHe is a young exciting player of the future so itโs the present that weโve got to care for him and help him get right. Itโs not a matter of him just going โbangโ ... they never do young players. We saw young (Sam) Walker at the Roosters really flatten out at the back end of last year.
โItโs a tough position fullback. Youโve got to organise defensive lines, catch high balls, itโs an individual position as well as a really important team position,โ he said.
โSo weโre just helping him understand the really important parts of organising defensive lines, obviously catching the balls under pressure and when he gets that right all that stuff that God gave him, all that natural talent will mean even more.โ
While Sloan has been named in the Dragons' reserves list for the Round 12 clash against the Canterbury Bulldogs, he has been replaced in the NSW Cup by another young gun in Treigh Stewart, raising further eyebrows.
Sunday will see the NSW Cup side play the Bulldogs at Belmore from 11:30am (AEST), before the NRL side also play the Bulldogs at Belmore from 2pm (AEST).
