Josh Dugan says he will help Valentine Holmes learn to play as a fullback as the question over who wears the No.1 jersey at Cronulla threatens to become an unwanted distraction.
Holmes shifted to fullback to replace 2016 premiership-winning No.1 Ben Barba last season but, with the arrival of Dugan from St George Illawarra, the 22-year-old was given just one game at fullback by coach Shane Flanagan this season before being shunted to the wing for Cronulla’s round two loss to the Dragons on Thursday night.
Holmes had an unhappy night against the Dragons, making just 34 metres from four carries as well as a couple of uncharacteristic handling errors.
Holmes has said publicly in the past that he wanted to play fullback but the shift to the wing so early in the season has fueled speculation that he is unhappy in the shire.
But Dugan said he planned to help Holmes realise his potential as a fullback given his decade of experience in the NRL after speaking with him after the switch was announced during the week.
“I pulled him aside and said I had his back. One week, I don’t think you can judge anyone. But at the end of the day if you want someone to get better they’ve got to keep learning it,” Dugan said.
“And I said ‘look, as long as I’m here I’m going to help you.’ And that’s what’s going to happen moving forward. I’ll keep helping him, keep giving him little tips and pointers as much as I can. This is my 10th year in first grade and probably eight of those have been at the back. So I’ve got a bit of knowledge there I feel and I’m here to help.”
Dugan is no stranger to drama surrounding his position on the field. Fairfax Media reported in April last year that the Dragons’ hierarchy had told Dugan’s management they saw him as a long-term centre. Dragons coach Paul McGregor indicated he would continue to play Dugan at fullback, with Sharks coach Shane Flanagan making the most of the uncertainty to sign Dugan from under St George Illawarra’s nose.
Dugan made no secret of his desire to hold onto the black, white and blue No.1 jersey in the short term.
“When I signed here I said [to Flanagan] I’ll come and do what’s best for the team. Nothing will change,” he said.
“That’s up to Flanno where he sees his best fit for the club and for the squad moving forward but I think I didn’t hurt myself in any way [against the Dragons]. I went out there and played as hard as I could. I do that every week and as I said wherever he sees as best is where I’ll play.
“I love it. It’s always going to be my preferred position I think. Even just at training, I had a ball at training. I was out the back having fun again, getting my hands on the ball. I guess it’s just going to be one of those things. I’ve proven I can play both so, just keep working on it at training between me and Val [and] see what happens.”
Holmes equaled the long-standing Sharks single-season try scoring record in 2016 with 19 tries as a winger but only scored six at fullback last season. He was also the leading try scorer at the 2017 World Cup for Australia, also as a winger.
Dugan, who required three stitches after a nasty cut to his chin against the Dragons, stressed he believed Holmes could become a top class fullback.
While Holmes endured an unhappy night, for the most part Dugan was impressive against his former club, carrying the ball strongly from the back and safe against the Dragons’ kicking from halves Widdop and Ben Hunt.
But Flanagan played down the switch as having any effect on the result, indicating the positional change would continue for Cronulla’s trip to ANZ Stadium to face Parramatta next Saturday night.
“Both of them had errors in their game today but it had nothing to do with the position they were playing. The game was so close, Duges had an opportunity to score a try and he didn’t get it down,” Flanagan said.
“We can bang on about Valentine playing on the wing. His best position for us at the moment is on the wing and that’s where he’ll play. I’ll talk to him about his game, he had some errors in it. He’s an Australian winger and we need to pick it up, not only him but everyone.”
