Aaron Woods’ move to St George Illawarra is complete after the Dragons continued their end-of-season NRL acquisition spree with three more signatures.
Former NSW Origin prop Woods will join the Dragons on a one-year deal for 2022, after being let go by Cronulla.
South Sydney centre Tautau Moga and Manly second-rower Jack Gosiewski will also head to the Saints on one-year deals.
Woods’ signature comes after he fell out of favour of representative selectors while playing at the Sharks.
However the 30-year-old will add good size and grunt to a pack that also includes the incoming George Burgess after the Dragons lost Paul Vaughan midway through last season.
The Dragons now just have one spot left on the roster, after also picking up Queensland Origin trio Moses Mbye, Francis Molo and Jaydn Su’A, as well as Manly centre Moses Suli.
“We look forward to the arrival of Aaron and Jack, in addition to other key personnel, ahead of the upcoming season,” GM of football Ben Haran said.
“They will complement the development of our younger players and add another dimension to our evolving forward pack.”
Meanwhile, Moga’s signing represents another chance for the former teenage prodigy who has battled a long series of injuries since making his debut as an 18-year-old in 2012.
He has played just five games of first grade in the past two years, with the COVID-19 enforced cancellation of reserve grade hurting his push to return to NRL.
“Tautau’s experiences over the last decade will hold him in good stead as a seasoned member of our outside back ranks,” Haran said.
“Tautau hasn’t had the easiest rugby league journey but has shown plenty of resilience and fight to be in a position where he will certainly add value to our squad.”
Elsewhere, Gold Coast announced that they had secured former Parramatta and Penrith utility Will Smith on a two-year deal.
Paul
Guest
Yet St.George could go in exactly the same direction. If the older guys you’re signing, really aren’t that much better than any run of the mill NSW Cup player. Why sign them? In fact, there are plenty of decent NSW Cup players & Queensland Cup players out there. That would be much cheaper & could really add something to the squad. Why buy these players that other clubs wish to get rid of?
Paul
Guest
Is Griffin still handing out the photocopied 10 word game plan, that he used at Penrith? The start of last year , I thought he’d improved. As the year went on, Not So Sure...
Heyou
Roar Rookie
I see the method in the madness… or do I see the madness in the method? Recruitment and retention has been problematic for the Dragons for so long that it’s little wonder the faithful are feeling flabbergasted and flummoxed right now. Hook’s master plan requires depth so that the young, somewhat underdone due to covid calamity, local hopefuls get the chance to develop into legitimate first grade contenders. We see the potential and Mr Rubble has hopefully got his eyes on those prizes. With one position to fill, there is now depth to the roster. The aged, the infirm and the troubled will be vying for positions in the seventeen. How will it all pan out? I can’t hardly wait to find out. Am I all doom and gloom and sack the coach? Or am I excited to see the new look old Dragons carve it up? Or am I holding my breath and hoping? All three really. How many sleeps til the preseason? Too bloody many!
Heyou
Roar Rookie
He wouldn’t follow Hook’s game plans. He said it himself. Hook’s future game plans have me grinding my teeth.
Tom G
Roar Rookie
You have that right. Jack is a very frustrating player to watch. Has talent but struggles to put a whole game together
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
And lost three awesome juniors including an Australian rep. Not a good result in my book.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
I thought you'd be pleased
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Oh , Moga is not up to park footy let alone NRL. My cousin suffered severe chest pains , and recurrent headaches when he played in the centre for the Broncs. He will kill you.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Not sure why all this lack of love for Jack Gosiewski ? I think he is handy backrower who hits hard in defence and can score a try, a couple of things the Dragons have lacked in recent years. The one thing Jack has had trouble with his whole career is that he can find an injury or three which has impacted his career !
KenW
Roar Rookie
Agreed. In isolation it's easy to scoff at some of these but they are mostly filling obvious holes in the squad. And that some of them are older has to be looked at through the lens of how young a lot of the rest of the squad is - especially the backline. As you say most of the recruits have been in the pack where the Dragons had a metres problem that was exacerbated by their best forward getting himself fired. Molo and Su'a require no apologies, they're not superstars but both made recent Origin debuts and are in prime years of their careers. Woods & Burgess deliver size, metres and experience - their value completely depends on how cheap they were picked up. If Suli is intended as a first choice replacement for Bird to head to 2nd row, and Moga & Mbye are intended as squard cover, then that's really not bad. I do have a bad feeling a permanent spot will be made for Mbye though which I think would weaken whichever position is selected.
Hairy
Roar Rookie
While the Dragons haven't signed the flashiest of players, their recruitment at least seems targeted to specific roster gaps unlike the Tigers approach which is just sign anyone who is interested and add a bit on top. The Dragons were 15th in metres gained and post-contact metres gained last year, so they went and signed Molo and Woods who both average over 100m but also about 10m per run. They can take the hard carries which will make Lawrie, De Belin, McGuire and Fuimaono's subsequent runs more effective. They needed to fill an edge backrow spot to stop the rotating door and build some stability and combinations so they signed Su'a. Suli will give a strong running option on the edge an let Bird move closer to the ball. I don't think Mbye is a good signing and would have preferred Tyrone Peachey (exactly the creativity in the middle the Dragons lack) for the same price, but at least we can see he provides some utility value and depth at hooker and in the halves, which is a player every roster needs. Until late in the year they probably didn't know Sullivan could fill that role. The Gosiewski signing is a head scratcher, but at least the others seem to be addressing an issue. They won't win it next year but I think they can improve considerably.
Ralph ruddick
Guest
I still don't know why the coach. ..gave Matt duffty .....the big goodbye
John Shaw
Roar Rookie
I hope you are just joking around at Griffins expense. Only a moron would play Mbye ahead of Amone.
Tony
Roar Guru
I can hardly wait.
GC
Guest
Wonder who will be the one to complete our Dragons squad? Hopefully a big name!
Succhi
Roar Rookie
Seems to be a trend emerging - merged clubs lose local juniors and can’t attract decent outside talent.
Redcap
Roar Guru
That's what I'm afraid of.
Paul
Roar Guru
Woods was good enough to play SOO and for Australia not so long ago. I don't know he knew what role he was supposed to play at the Sharks, which might explain why he had some good patches in some games but was not sighted in others. Moga is still only 27 and the only thing that's stopped him from having a great career is injury, not a lack of talent. My only concern is with Gosiewski. He played for Mullimbimby and as long as he doesn't get on the Mullimbimby Madness, he should be a useful bloke for depth and again, at 27, is still young enough to contribute to the squad as a whole
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
You can laugh about it now that Norman is gone I see, Tony. :stoked:
Tony
Roar Guru
Every week. Mbye will be the new Norman.