While initial plans for the project were announced in June, the club has formalised its development application that includes two full-size training fields, NRL and NRLW change rooms, state-of-the-art gym, aquatic recovery centre, full physiotherapy facilities, spa and lecture theatre.

The architectural plan for the site at UOW's Innovation Campus also includes space for the club's entire front-office and community operations staff - currently split over several sites - making Wollongong the permanent home of the joint-venture.

The NSW government will contribute $40 million to the project, with the DA proposing a construction start time in the latter half of next year.

The state government contributed more than $60 million to the Wests Tigers recently opened centre of excellence at Concord and has announced plans to fund similar facilities at Kellyville and Belmore that will be home to NRL clubs Parramatta and Canterbury.

With large-scale high performance centres becoming the norm at NRL level, Dragons CEO Ryan Webb said such facilities have gone from being a luxury to a necessity in high-performance sport.

"I think it's something you can never use as an excuse by not having one, but if you want to continually compete at an elite level it is a requirement now," Webb told the Mercury

"Without knowing (new NRL franchise) the Dolphins set-up intimately, we'd be one of only three, maybe four teams who don't have something of this calibre right now. It just puts you a step behind.

"Even though it won't be in place for a couple of years, it does help you with recruitment and retention talks because you are talking two and three years down the line with some of those things.

"It's not just about the training output, it's how the club operates, how you connect with each other, how you connect with your community.

"All these things are compromised in the facilities we have right now, so this will bring everything up a notch, not just high performance, but everything we do."

With construction set to be completed by the end of 2024, Webb expects the site to be the club's full-time home from 2025.

A single home will be an important unifying force for a joint-venture long split along merger lines, with its front-office and football operations historically split between St George Leagues Club, WIN Stadium and UOW.

With the disconnect exacerbated by two COVID-affected seasons, Webb said it was essential that the club re-unified, top to bottom, in the one place.

"The fact is we run out of, loosely, three locations right now," Webb said.

"We've got St George Leagues Club, WIN Stadium and then we use the University's main campus for a lot of our training at the moment.

"It makes it hard to build a really connected culture , and if you don't have a connected culture, how do you operate at an optimum level? You can't.

"It's really rare right now that we would get the chance for our junior representative players, academy players, to overlap and cross paths with our elite NRL players, or for our female players to overlap and cross paths with our male players, let alone staff.

"You utilise the facilities you have, but everything has to be timed so everyone can use the [limited] space which means they can rarely be there at the same time.

"That's just not optimal. You don't get your best learning, you don't get your best motivational outcomes when you're separated and compromised like that."

While the club will always split games between Kogarah and WIN Stadium, Webb said Wollongong is the perfect central location for a club with a junior catchment and fanbase stretching from southern Sydney to the South Coast.

"I think the important part of it is that this location sits in the middle of our region running from Georges River right down the South Coast," Webb said.

"We have every intention of continuing to work really closely, both from a community and pathway perspective, right through that [area] and this actually puts us central."

Perhaps best likened to South Sydney's Redfern base, the outdoor aspect of the facility will be unfenced and fully open to the public with the aim of inviting the community in.

Similarly, the plan also features additional office space, adjoining gym and corporate facilities and function centre to be utilised by the University and other organisations for research, education and administration purposes.

"The building is being built and designed to draw the community, into us," Webb said.

"It's designed with a community classroom, with an open lecture theatre, with the grandstand, with the community field, to draw people to this location.

"It's not designed to be elitist and block people out. That's far from what we want because I believe there is a competitive advantage to being strongly connected.

"That's what we need to do, there's an opportunity here. We've had a partnership with the University for at least 12 years already.

"That crosses community programs, Indigenous programs, internships, PhD scholarships. There's a lot of relationships that are already in place, but it's all done in bits and pieces.

"Particularly from a sports research perspective, this'll be designed to bring that together."

Minister for Sport Alister Henskens said the project will create 229 new jobs in construction and more than 60 new full-time jobs once operational.

"The Illawarra is a traditional rugby league stronghold, and this new facility will foster the next generation of talent from across the region," Mr Henskens said.

"The NSW Government is investing in our communities to deliver the best sporting infrastructure and this facility will provide more opportunities for elite athletes and aspiring professionals to operate at the highest level, both on and off the field."

UOW Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Innovation, Enterprise and External Relations) Professor Alex Frino also welcomed the development.

"This is an exciting announcement for UOW, the Dragons, and the region, as it means that we have taken the next step to building a best-in-class community, research and high-performance centre right here in the Illawarra," he said.

"At UOW, we're extremely excited by the research, teaching and community engagement opportunities that this partnership presents, as we welcome the potential of the Dragons CHPC to our world-leading Innovation Campus."

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