Dragons youngster Dylan Egan ready if called upon for round one

Eagle-eyed media spotted the Gerringong product spending most of the club's pre-season scrimmage with Manly on the right edge, with coach Shane Flanagan subsequently confirming Egan was well in contention for round one.

He's subsequently been named in the No. 17 jumper for Saturday's Charity Shield. It would be a quick rise for a bloke who, this time last year, was captaining the Steelers SG Ball side.

It's the second preseason in which the 20-year-old with a seemingly bottomless gas tank has turned heads, but he was still taken aback by news he was a shot at an opening round debut.

"Seeing it in the newspapers was the first time I heard about it, so it definitely came from the blind side," Egan said.

"It's rewarding seeing that a lot of the hard work I've put into the preseason's been seen. I wouldn't say it's beyond me. Being the second year in the preseason, I feel a lot more comfortable than I have in other years.

"I am still a smaller body, but I'd say my fitness is one of my better aspects so I'd like to think 80 minutes is is in me.

"I really just want to play good footy wherever that is. If it's in [NSW] Cup, Flegg or NRL, I'm just happy to do whatever is best for the club.

"We've been doing a lot of opposed and a lot of game scenario stuff at training. I'm really keen for this week to see how that goes and real keen for the step up."

Already one of the fittest forwards at the club, Egan says his second preseason has still been a step up on his first, with Flanagan demanding a lot of his emerging crop.

"Flanno comes in with a real professionalism and you could see from the get-go he's got a lot of faith in the juniors and really pushes us forward," Egan said.

"With the pathways he's got set, it just shows how experienced he is in that area. Coming in being the second preseason, I sort of knew how tough it was going to be but it's already been a step up from it what was last year.

"Physically, fitness-wise, strength wise, I feel like as a club it's improved tremendously. Just being able to come in and learn each and every day has been really good."

Few have been more valuable in the vein than forward leader Blake Lawrie, while the wisdom of new recruit Tom Eisenhuth has been a valuable resource.

"Blocka's taken a lot of us young boys under his wing," Egan said.

"He's really competitive, and he's instilled that in us. Whether it's in fitness or just a training session, he always likes to let you know if he one-ups you in that training session.

"Having him to really compete with and drive me in training has been really good. I'd like to think I [win] most of the time, but he'd probably say otherwise.

"There's this thing we have where they record a ratio to your body weight and that so if he ever gets me, it's always from from that, but I reckon I get him most of the time.

"Tom Eisenhuth coming from Melbourne, he's got a huge amount of knowledge as well. Just doing video next to him, he'll give you little tips that are really valuable."

If he doesn't make the cut for round one, the proud Steelers product would no doubt be eying round four against Manly in Wollongong, where a debut would see no shortage of Gerringong Lions jerseys on the hill.

"We'd hopefully get the hill packed," he said.

"I've been a Dragons supporter my whole life so it would be a dream come true. I know how much it would mean for my family and a lot of my friends so I'd like to think we could get a lot of it filled.

"As early as under sixes you hear about Mick Cronin and and what he's done for the for the Gerringong club and how he's put us on the map.

"You see the players that we have in there now and I think we have another two (Hayden Buchanan and Hamish Stewart) in this full-time squad at the moment, so it'd mean a lot to the club."