Ben Hunt may not have time for a rebuild, but Dragons centre Zac Lomax doesn't have the patience for one. He's been though more than enough already.
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Still just 23, Lomax made his NRL finals debut in just his third top-grade appearance in 2018, a 48-18 demolition of Brisbane in week one of the post-season under Paul McGregor.
He was on the wrong end of a heart-breaking one-point loss to Souths a week later, one of just four survivors from that clash along with Blake Lawrie, Jack de Belin and Hunt.
It's the last time he tasted finals action having been yet to get there again since inking a rich five-year extension with the club in 2019.
He's now all but certain to go a fifth year without finals in a campaign that's seen him playing under a fourth coach in current interim boss Ryan Carr.
Shane Flanagan looms as his fifth from next year, with the premiership-winning mentor's task widely dubbed a rebuild given that 2018 run was the club's only trip to the finals in the last decade.
The joint-venture's currently in a battle to avoid a first-ever wooden spoon despite showing signs of a resurgence under Carr, but there's fresh optimism in Flanagan's appointment that requires only the final rubber stamp.
As a player, you don't want to go through a rebuild. I've been through a couple.
Given the 57-year-old is a proven winner, Lomax isn't steeling himself for another start from scratch under his fifth coach.
"As a player, you don't want to go through a rebuild," Lomax said.
I've gone through a couple of them, but I just want to win games of footy and I'm just willing to do whatever that takes.
"There's obviously a rich history at the club, so there's always noise around it. As a club, we're just trying to turn up and be the best we can and not let that outside noise affect us.
"No one wants to go through a rebuild. Hopefully we're just on the up from here."
Lomax has been one of a number of players to reportedly question their future in Wollongong amid uncertainty surrounding the head coaching situation.
It's hoped Flanagan's appointment can ease some discontent in the playing ranks, though Carr's done a fair job on that score with two wins from four games since taking over following Anthony Griffin's sacking.
"It obviously hasn't been a season that we would have hoped but to get the two points [at Kogarah] was outstanding," Lomax said.
"To tell you the truth, we've been so close, we've been in every game. The effort's been outstanding, that's why it's been so disappointing to see where we're standing at the moment.
"It's not a reflection on the effort that's been put in. We're not far off and we're just trying to string as many as we can together now."
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
