Dragons coach Shane Flanagan says the ball is in Jack de Belin's court when it comes to the veteran lock's desire to remain a one-club man beyond this year.
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Flanagan has made no secret of his desire to turn over the Dragons roster since arriving in Wollongong with a host of stars off-contract.
Having off-loaded the near $1.6 million departing star Zac Lomax was due to be paid over 2025-26, and fallen short of landing marquee recruits, the club was sitting on a near $2 million war chest for 2025.
Jaydn Su'A is the first big name to have earned a new deal, with the club confirming the re-signing of the 26-year-old for two more seasons last week.
It comes as Tyrell Sloan ponders a two-year $1 million extension, while de Belin is reportedly facing a pay-cut to remain at the club he debuted for in 2011.
De Belin has admitted some frustration at stalled talks on his future amid whispers he's being shopped to UK Super League clubs despite feeling he has plenty to more to offer the NRL.
Su'A's contract extension was a result of form that has him on the cusp of a Queensland recall, and arguably in career-best touch.
Flanagan said the onus remains on the rest of the club's off-contract stars - including de Belin and Sloan - to produce similar to earn an extended stay.
"I definitely want Jack here," Flanagan said when asked about de Belin.
"Whether he's here for one year, two years, three years, four years, that's up to Jack. Obviously the club's got a part to do with that, but playing good footy always helps.
"Being new coming into the club, I've challenged the playing group to challenge themselves and live up to new standards.
"Some of the players have been here for a long period of time and we haven't had success. We've got to look at that. Do I have to change the people within the organisation?
"I'm giving them every opportunity to make sure that they want to be here, they're the right people to be here, who are going to take this club forward, win football games, play semi-finals and so on.
"I won't be rushed into those things. I like to think we're really close [with Sloan], we saw Jaydn Su'A on the weekend [get re-signed].
"I'd like to think in time they all get ticked off."
Some of Flanagan's shrewder pick-ups mean Thursday's clash with Canterbury will see a number of Dragons come up against their former club.
It includes Kyle Flanagan and back-rower Raymond Faitala-Mariner, but the veteran coach said it's simply par for the course in the modern game.
"You have that pretty regularly in the NRL," Flanagan said.
"Last week Hame (Sele) was going up against his old club in South Sydney and we always address expectations and so on. It's no different for Ray.
"We've previewed the Dogs and I've probably got a bit of a head-start because I watched every one of their games (featuring Kyle) for the last couple of years.
"They compete really hard. We need to make sure that we compete as hard as them in all areas of the game.
"We're prepared for them, but we've also got to worry about ourselves. If we get the Dragons right, I don't care who we play against."
Luciano Leilua's return will see the Dragons take the park with arguably the strongest 17 Flanagan's had all season.
"We're definitely close to it," Flanagan said.
"We've been lucky that we haven't had too many injuries [but] we haven't been able to put our best side on.
"It's Luch's first game back, so he's not going to be at his best, but we definitely need him. He gives us strike out there on the edge.
"He's had six weeks off, so we've got to give him time to settle in, but he's had a really good training block.
"We probably could have played him the week before the bye, but we erred on the side of caution."
The post-bye block will also see the Dragons take on Penrith, missing some Origin stars, the Tigers and Sea Eagles before a second bye.
It shapes as a make-or-break stretch, but Flanagan says he hasn't looked that far ahead.
"There's no easy games in the NRL and I don't want to get them too far ahead of themselves," Flanagan said.
"Leading into the Origin period it's important that you get as many wins [as you can] and definitely get two points going into that bye.
"We'll concentrate on this week, and then we'll probably lose Ben (Hunt), we might lose one or two others as well.
"Because we've been inconsistent, we can't look too far ahead. We've just got to make sure that we're ready to play week in week out and that's what we need to do this week."
Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
