With all legal obstacles cleared allowing St George Illawarra young gun Talatau Amone to return to playing in the NRL, it seems just a matter of time before the man they call Junior regains his starting spot for the Dragons.
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It's now been three weeks since Amone was given the all-clear to return to the field, but once again on Tuesday he wasn't named in the 17 to play against the Cronulla Sharks on Sunday.
The good form of Dragons five-eighth Jayden Sullivan could have something to do with his absence.
Sullivan was given first crack in the No 6 jersey when Amone was out and he has thrived in his two outings to date against the Gold Coast Titans and Brisbane Broncos.
The man nicknamed Bud was especially impressive in the last-start loss to the Broncos, crossing for two tries and creating plenty of good attacking opportunities for his outside backs.
It's this good form of late which has Dragons centre Zac Lomax confident Sullivan could steer St George Illawarra to a long sought after win over local rivals Sharks.
"I'm excited [Amone] is back in the mix. I think Juns adds a lot to the team but I'm sure whoever's up and ready to go will do a good job for the team," he said.
"I think Bud's done a really good job. He's scored two tries, he's been doing really well, he's held his own.
"In regards to Juns and Bud they both play a really good game of footy and whoever it is that is there, is going to do a good job for us."
The Sharks, who welcome back reigning Dally M player of year Nicho Hynes from injury, head into the Nestrata Jubilee Stadium stoush full of confidence, having beaten the Dragons the last five times they've met.
St George Ilawarra's last win against the team from the Shire came almost three years ago, in the 2020 season.
The Red V have only won three of their last 10 games against the Sharks.
Lomax is aware of the Dragons' struggles against the Sharks of late but felt Anthony Griffin's chargers were ready to break the five-game losing streak.
"It's a local derby and we know to expect a tough game," the 23-year-old said.
"I think we haven't won one for the last four or five years so we know it is going to be a tough game. But it is a home game for us so we are going to be up for it.
"It's going to be a good test but we're definitely looking forward to it."
Lomax added having gone toe-to-toe for most of their last-start loss to competition heavyweights the Broncos, had the Dragons confident they could mix it with the NRL's best teams.
"As a team we know that we can compete with the best of them...we took a lot of confidence out of that game absolutely," he said.
"We beat ourselves at the end, just a couple of lapses where our defence at their end of the field needed to be better. But, we will work on that, it's early days and the good message we got out of that is we know exactly what we need to work on.
"Against the Sharks we need to flip that switch in regards to coming from attack to defence and just playing more of our footy at their end of the field.
"We showed we can score points it is just about our defence and turning up a lot more times for your mates. We need to do that, and we just need to have a bit better attitude around that."
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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.
