Tyrell Sloan is looking forward to playing with Damien Cook when the South Sydney rake starts his two-year deal with St George Illawarra next year.
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The Dragons fullback reckons the creative hooker will suit the Red V and his style of play to a tee.
"Cookie's one of the best hookers in the comp. I'm looking forward to be able to play with him next year. I think he is going to suit our football team. He gets to dart out and I feel we can create opportunities there," Sloan said.
"I haven't met him but I'm looking forward to play some footy with him and create a good connection.
"I think it's going to be good for both of us. Obviously we've got Lidsy [Jacob Liddle] there now and Cooksie for next year......I think it is going to complement each other's game.
"I don't know which way the coach is going to go...if Lids is starting and Cookie is on the bench or vise-versa, they both can play that role where they can dart out of hooker and create opportunities.
"I'm looking forward to playing with both of them. I love playing with Lidsy now too.....we're excited but it's a focus for 2025."
Sloan added that his and the Dragons focus was solely on trying to win as many games as possible this year.
Coming off a bye after a last-start loss to the Manly Sea Eagles, St George Illawarra welcomes Wayne Bennett and his Dolphins to Kogarah this Sunday afternoon.
It's a fixture Sloan is particularly looking forward to for a number of reasons.
Dragons players will wear a specially designed Indigenous jersey against the Dolphins, much to the pleasure of proud Wiradjuri man Sloan.
"It's always good to wear an indigenous jersey. I'm a very proud man of Wiradjuri country. It's always an honour to be able to represent my people," he said.
"I thank the club all the time. They do a massive job with not just the jerseys, but all the training gear as well.
"I'm looking forward to wearing that again this week and hopefully put on a better performance to honour the Indigenous Round."
The Dolphins hammered St George Illawarra 38-0 when the two teams met in Redcliffe in round two.
Sloan remembers that game well for all the wrong reasons, and vowed the Dragons were keen to do all they could to try and avenge that "embarrassing"' loss this Sunday.
"We know what the score was.......they embarrassed us up there," he said.
"I'm looking forward to going out there and putting on a performance for our home fans.
"It's an [afternoon] game so it will be good to see the hill packed. I'm looking forward to hopefully responding and dishing some back."
The Dragons head into Sunday's clash looking to bounce back after losing to Manly and improve on their seven-seven win/loss record.
Sloan said coach Shane Flanagan wanted his players to focus just on improving their own performances and not worry too much what other teams were doing.
"It's always about us. We go through games there where we beat ourselves. There's also some areas there where we need to improve individually," the 22-year-old said.
"For myself and for the team it's just about us, worrying about our job and getting ourselves right and then worry about everyone else.
"Manly was a tough one to swallow, we know we're a better team than that. That's why we want to respond this week."
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
