‘Unfortunate’ injury setback for Dragons flyer amid club fullback battle – Off-season Central
Sloan picked up a syndemosis injury during last month’s Koori Knockout but new Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has revealed the incumbent fullback has since broken his thumb.
“We’ve had a major, major hiccup with him suffering a syndesmosis in the (Koori) Knockout, which is unfortunate, and then he broke his thumb so everything I had planned for him in early December went out the window, but we’ll get there,” Flanagan told NRL.com.
“He’s a good learner and he does look good at the moment – he’s put on a bit of weight because he hasn’t been running – but he has a lot of work from an education perspective.”
Sloan is expected to return to the training field in mid-to-late December.
Flanagan said that in an ideal world, Sloan will the Dragons’ Round 1 starter at fullback, however the premiership-winning coach has said Lomax will be given a chance to make his case.
Lomax has established himself in the centres and is one of the Dragons’ most potent attacking weapons, but Flanagan is keen to try everything to give his team the best opportunity to win.
That may include switching Sloan and Lomax during games, which Flanagan has done before when he was coaching the Sharks.
“We could do a bit of interchanging there, which I have done previously with Ben Barba and Valentine Holmes,” Flanagan said.
“It is such a big job, and Zac is a big thing, so you could swap them around during different times of the game.
“It upsets the opposition, and it was a good opportunity during parts of the game to educate Val as a fullback.
“Val was a great fullback. I know he is not playing there now, but before he went to NFL he was doing a good job at fullback.”
Speaking on what the Dragons have with Sloan, Flanagan explained to foxsports.com.au back in July that he was keen to train the 21-year-old “differently to what he’s done before”.
“Sloan has got heaps of upside, another pre-season of training,” Flanagan said.
“He’s getting older, heavier, stronger, we know what areas he’s got to work on, he’s a super talent.”