Dragons rake Andrew McCullough has rubbished reports he's contemplating retirement, or that he's being urged to by the club, vowing to see out the final year of his contract next season.
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The 32-year-old shifted to Wollongong prior to last season on a three-year deal, the first heavily subsidised by former club Brisbane.
It saw him re-unite with his former NYC coach Anthony Griffin and best mate Ben Hunt and notch the 300-game milestone in round 16.
The veteran has also worn some flak through the Dragons struggle for creativity in the middle of the park en route to another lacklustre finish to the year.
That, and Griffin's stated desire to add depth to the club's dummy-half ranks, has seen reports emerge suggesting McCullough had copped a tap on the shoulder with a year still to run on his contract.
It's something he refuted ahead of his side's clash with the Titans in Wollongong on Sunday.
"No not at all, I've still got next year," he told The Mercury when asked about retirement.
"I haven't felt any pressure [to retire]. There's a lot of outside noise but I just block it out. There's a lot of rubbish out there these days, but I just don't care anymore, I just love playing.
"There's always going to be negativity in regards to things, and stories to be made, but that's the big game of it and you get paid accordingly, so that's all right.
"I still enjoy training and that's the hardest thing. Playing's always the easy part, but I still enjoy coming to training, I've got a contract and I'm going to honour that."
While he's publicly backed McCullough, Griffin has made no secret of a desire to add depth to the club's hooking ranks, with the likes of Reece Robson and former skipper Cam McInnes having departed in recent years,
Utility Moses Mbye and rising half Jayden Sullivan have been McCullough's predominant understudies, while the club had been linked to Roosters' No. 9 Sam Verrills, though he subsequently signed with Gold Coast.
Griffin oversaw an unprecedented turnover of the club's roster at the conclusion of his first season last year.
It won't be repeated on that scale, but the veteran coach said there will be significant movement across the club's top 30.
"We'll look to add to and change the list but we're a lot more stable and a lot stronger than what we were this time last year going forward," Griffin said.
"As disappointing as it is [to miss finals], from a big picture point of view, we're in a lot better position this year with the team we've got together now.
"It's not where we want to be, so we will have a look at building some more strength into our roster, but a lot of then stuff we've done this year, particularly with the spine with guys like [Cody] Ramsey and [Talatau] Amone is going to put the club in a good position long-term.
"There won't be as many changes [as last year] but we still need to strengthen our list."
Changes are also coming on the club's coaching staff, with Griffin confirming Tweed Heads coach Ben Woolf - brother of incoming Redcliffe assistant coach Kristian Woolf - will join the Dragons next year.
"It's something for next year but that will happen," Griffin said.
With their faint finals hopes extinguished with a loss to the Raiders last week, the Dragons will be playing for little more than pride over the remaining three rounds.
Griffin conceded the two-point defeat is another loss his side will come to rue when it looks back over another forgettable campaign, but said a strong finish to the season remains within reach.
"At this level the [finals] line is really thin and you've got stare it in the face and see it for what it is and a couple of times we've beaten ourselves where we should have been better," he said.
"We just dropped a couple of game here and there that we should've won, a couple in the last month and a couple earlier in the year.
"It's disappointing, but we've still got a job to do. I've been really happy with the group over the last month with their dedication and preparation and ability to stay at the task.
"The last month we've put a lot of effort into our football and we've played some good football against some good sides, so we need to continue that this weekend. That's the main focus."
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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.
