{"id":365702,"date":"2024-02-06T08:23:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T09:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=365702"},"modified":"2024-02-06T15:03:37","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T15:03:37","slug":"win-a-comp-stars-bold-declaration-after-horror-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=365702","title":{"rendered":"'Win a comp': Star's bold declaration after horror season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zac Lomax<\/a> believes he and his Dragons<\/a> teammates are focused on winning the NRL<\/a> premiership this season.<\/p>\n

After a horror 2023 on and off-field, Lomax said the Dragons had been rejuvenated by the arrival of Shane Flanagan<\/a>, and the playing group's focus for this season was winning the comp.<\/p>\n

Flanagan last week said the club's recruitment focus was now firmly on 2025 and beyond.<\/p>\n

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He also pleaded with fans for patience, and suggested short-term success could be minimal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But Lomax said the playing group's focus was firmly on the now.<\/p>\n

"My focus is '24 and our (next) training session. Nothing's guaranteed for 2025," he said.<\/p>\n

"My focus is to win a comp this year and as far as I'm concerned the rest of my teammates will be with me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm not worried about 2025. I'm worried about my training session \u2026 and round one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I want to win every game this year. I want to win a comp this year and I'm sure every other person in the other teams would tell you the same."<\/p>\n

"I look at Penrith winning three [premierships] in a row. That's what I want to do. I'm not looking to 2025 at all, I want to win as many games as I can."<\/p>\n

After finishing 16th on the ladder last year, the Dragons lost promising young stars Jayden Sullivan (Tigers) and Jaiyden Hunt (Broncos) to other clubs, before Junior Amone was de-registered following an assault conviction.<\/p>\n

To rub salt into an already gaping wound, one of their stronger signings, winger Corey Allan, was ruled out for the season after tearing an ACL in January.<\/p>\n

Since their 2010 premiership victory, the Dragons have only played finals footy on three occasions. Flanagan said he didn't blame fans for being impatient.<\/p>\n

"They want their team to win and I love that passion," he said after a scrimmage against the Sea Eagles.<\/p>\n

"But there's not too many players out there on the market who can slot in. It's a tough market in recruitment.<\/p>\n

"Our focus is 2025. We've made some changes in 2024 and we're still looking for some players, but our real focus will be for 2025 and 2026."<\/p>\n

\"Latrell<\/p>\n

But Flanagan vowed his troops would still give it their all throughout this year.<\/p>\n

"(The goal is) to compete right to the end and be in the semi-final race right to the end," he said.<\/p>\n

"We're going to be a side that's hard to beat and we're going to try not to beat ourselves.<\/p>\n

"If you look at the sides I've coached before, like the Sharks, we're going to scrap and fight and kick right to the end, and we'll win games on the back of that.<\/p>\n

"We won't be beating ourselves, we'll be working really hard and if we add a few classy players in recruitment you'll start to see us climb the table."<\/p>\n

Lomax meanwhile is still unsure where he will play barely a month out from round one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flanagan confirmed on SEN last week Jack Bird would return to the centres, with Tyrell Sloan at fullback. Moses Suli is seen as the likely candidate for the other centre.<\/p>\n

\"Lomax<\/p>\n

Lomax said he had trained "everywhere in the back-five" in pre-season.<\/p>\n

"I'm learning, and to tell you the truth I don't know (where I'll be playing)," he said.<\/p>\n

"I've just been training wherever Flanno's asked me to train \u2013 I've jumped at it and I'm learning as much as I can."<\/p>\n

Lomax said given the choice, he'd play in the centres.<\/p>\n

"That's where I play. I like playing fullback with a little bit of room to run but I'd play right centre.<\/p>\n

"Through my whole career I've played every position really \u2026 everywhere in the back five, I've played that utility role where I've come off and played in the forwards."<\/p>\n

Lomax said he hoped the side would have an idea of how their strongest 13 would line up after their two pre-season challenge matches \u2013 against the Bunnies for the Charity Shield at Kogarah, followed by a road trip to Mudgee to battle the Tigers.<\/p>\n

The Dragons take on the Titans on the Gold Coast in round one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zac Lomax believes he and his Dragons teammates are focused on winning the NRL premiership this season. After a horror 2023 on and off-field, Lomax […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":317519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=365702"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365707,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365702\/revisions\/365707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/317519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=365702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=365702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=365702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}