The Dragons Six: How St George Illawarra pulled off their recruitment spree

Despite the lack of success on the field for the Dragons in 2026, it’s been nothing but wins for the club’s recruitment staff.

With the side staring down the barrel of its first wooden spoon since the Dragons and Steelers merged in 1998 and not having their coach for next season confirmed until three weeks ago, they are set to welcome a slew of star signings in for 2027.   

With renewed optimism amongst the fanbase and a bolstered spine ready to compete towards the top half of the ladder, the club’s head of recruitment and pathways Daniel Anderson has revealed how St George Illawarra has been able to improve their roster.

Coming into the role in July 2025, the 59-year-old, alongside key powerbrokers at the club, has done a power of work helping turn the Dragons into a destination club.

Those players include Keaon Kolomatangi, Scott Drinkwater, Luke Metcalf, Phillip Sami, Connor Watson, with Kodi Nikorima the latest to join the Red V next season.

But in Anderson’s opinion, their first signing in South Sydney’s Kolomatangi back in January was the most important of the lot.

The club pulled out all the stops to get him to sign a five-year deal, including flying him in a helicopter to show him around the area.  

But with his signature, this marked a change in how the club was perceived.

“Well, Keaon being the first (signing), you got to change the narrative on a club and I guess the narrative was not particularly high for the Dragons,” Anderson told SEN’s The Run Home with Joel and Fletch.

“To get a player who was an Australian representative, State of Origin representative was extremely important for us.

“So, Keaon was the first, and I think he sort of changed what people thought of us, but in the end, that's what it did, we reckon.

“I think people sort of looked and went, ‘Oh, he's going there, well that's interesting’ (and) maybe, we can set some other people to come here as well.”

With all these signings, the club has put in plenty of work to ensure they fit into the club’s culture.

And as Anderson notes, it can rely on a whole variety of sources to paint the full picture of a potential recruit.

“You gotta do your homework,” he explained.

“You ring other players that played with them (and) you look in your own club.

“We were lucky Damien Cook had played with Keaon (at South Sydney) so he vouched for him as a character, as a human and as a person and these things are important.

“That's what you do, you ring other coaches. Dean Young had met Keaon with the Tongan team and with New South Wales, so you tap into every source you can find to get background.”

While most of the focus has been on their recruits, the Dragons have also focused on retaining their academy talent.

This season, they’ve re-signed Loko Jr Pasifiki Tonga, who wanted to leave the club at the start of the year, Jacob Halangahu, Dylan Egan and the Couchman Brothers, Ryan and Toby.

Coupled with the re-signing of fellow academy graduate Hamish Stewart last season, this young forward pack, who are all under the age of 23, show plenty of promise.

And with plenty of upside, Anderson thinks these players will help drive the club's culture in years to come.

“It's massive,” he noted.

“As an ex-coach, I always believed that the local players are the soul of the club and then you need imports to fill the spaces.

“Those players can integrate into being the soul of a club, but you need local players to drive or be the engine in each club, in my opinion.

“These young boys are integral to that, and it's fantastic that they're all here for an extended period.

“Their best footy is coming.”

With all these signings and re-signings, expectations on the Dragons are sky high for 2027.

Already, SEN’s Andrew Voss has gone as far as to say that anything below making the top eight will be a failed season.

While the former Warriors and Eels coach doesn’t have making their first finals series since 2018 as an expectation but as a common goal for the playing group.

“I don't say have to,” he said.

“But if we're gonna be ambitious about recruiting players to our squad, (like) does Keaon Kolomatangi, Scott Drinkwater and Luke Metcalf want to finish 12th?

“Like, I don't need to say anything here. The players we have recruited and the young guys coming through, they're going to want to be in the playoffs (and) in the semi-finals.

“So, let's not be naive and go, ‘Oh yeah, we're happy with five wins’, that's ridiculous.

“You've gotta aim for semis.”

Following their third win for the season against rivals Cronulla, the Dragons will look to make it back-to-back wins when they play Wests Tigers at CommBank Stadium.

Kick-off takes place at 4:05pm AEST.