“When they come to Wollongong it’s going to be a little bit of that. They’re going to want to scrap and fight. When we go to Kogarah I’d like to think that we can replicate the same from the old Dragons days.

“We have a bit of a theory about that. It’s something I’d like to get to. Whether we get there or how long it takes to get to that point,I’m not quite sure. We’re on the right track.”

‘There’s a similarity with the Sharks – I hope the results are the same.’

Dragons coach Shane Flanagan

In his first year at the helm of the Red V,despite being installed as wooden spoon favourites,the club improved its standing by five positions.

“We’ve climbed the ladder – we’re nearly onto the roof,but we can’t get onto it just yet,” Flanagan says.

The Dragons appeared on course for a finals berth last season before,in Flanagan’s words,“falling off a cliff” in the last three weeks to crash out of contention. The premiership-winning coach believes learning from that experience,coupled with the recruitment of Clint Gutherson,Damien Cook,Valentine Holmes,Lachlan Ilias and rugby sevens star Nathan Lawson,will ensure there is no repeat.

The club’s recruitment also has echoes of Flanagan’s past.

“Definitely,there’s a similarity with the Sharks – I hope the results are the same,” Flanagan says of his recruitment philosophy.

“I like working with senior players that have done it and I know I can get some more out of them. I don’t know if you’d call them hardened first-graders,but they have the experience of playing semi-finals and winning games.”

The bookies remain unconvinced,again installing the Dragons as wooden spoon favourites.

“Look,it’s one of those things,you have to prove people wrong,and we’re no different this year,” says Gutherson who,along with Cook,is in the frame to fill the captaincy void left by the departure of Ben Hunt.

“We’re gonna be looking forward to where we want to go as a team and as a club,and the only way to prove[critics] wrong is to win.”

With each key recruit unwanted by their previous club,they will have something to prove. For Ilias,it’s a chance to step out of the shadow of Adam Reynolds and prove that he can fill the shoes of Hunt. In Cook’s case,it’s a chance to finish his NRL career where it started.

“It feels great,just going down to Wollongong,where all my junior footy started,” Cook says.

“WIN Stadium was the ground you always wanted to play at as a junior. Just to have these colours back on is a bit surreal,a full-circle moment for me.”

‘We’ve climbed the ladder – we’re nearly onto the roof,but we can’t get onto it just yet.’

Shane Flanagan expects further improvement from the Dragons

Holmes won a premiership with Flanagan in the Shire in 2016,a relationship that was strained when the Maroons three-quarter quit to pursue his NFL ambition.

“I was probably young and naive;I thought I could do anything at that time,” Holmes reflects.

Now,Holmes will reunite with Flanagan as a senior player,one who can help Gutherson and Cook guide an otherwise youthful roster.

“If these younger lads want to learn from us,that’s good,and if they want to ask us questions,that’s even better,” Holmes says.

Flanagan’s foundations are built on hard work. That’s why,on the first day of pre-season,Dragons players were sent for a five-kilometre run up Mt Keira near Wollongong. It was symbolic of what the club is trying to achieve.

“We’ve got to keep climbing the mountain,” Flanagan says. “We’ve started that process,we need to continue it.”