Paul McGregor believes Tristan Sailor could start the 2020 season wearing St George Illawarra's No.1 jersey.
The 21-year-old son of former Australia and Queensland star Wendell Sailor made his NRL debut for the Dragons in their drubbing at the hands of the Sydney Roosters at Kogarah on Saturday night.
Sailor was one of the few bright sparks to come out of the heavy defeat, scoring a try and showing glimpses of his ability in a badly beaten side.
With St George Illawarra's season all but over, McGregor may elect to give Sailor more time to find his feet in the top grade during the Dragons' final two matches of the campaign.
St George Illawarra host the finals-chasing Wests Tigers at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday before finishing their season on the Gold Coast against the Titans.
Sailor earned his call up to first grade after Ben Hunt failed to pass a fitness test following his concussion against Cronulla. That saw Corey Norman switch to the halves, with Sailor slotting into the side at fullback.
With captain Gareth Widdop moving on at the end of the season and Matt Dufty seemingly out of favour at the Dragons, McGregor said Sailor "absolutely" could find himself running out as St George Illawarra's fullback in round one next season.
"I thought he was sound. It was good [for him] to get a debut. He scored a try, he had a couple of nice touches, he tried to get involved in the game. [He made] a couple of errors but I thought he made a really sound debut. It was good," McGregor said.
"Tristan is obviously very strong in the gym and very fit. But he's still young so he's just got to develop around his game in a few areas [and give him] another pre-season and really try and thicken him up a little bit and he might grow a bit more.
"He does all the right things at training to give himself the best opportunity in the game. Tristan's career is quite bright even though he's young because he can play multiple positions as well.
"He can play a little bit of six, he can play in the centres and on the wing, so he's got that utility value as an outside back. So we'll just put some more education around that."
The Dragons will need to improve drastically from their effort against the Roosters if they are any chance of ending the Tigers' finals charge at the SCG on Sunday.
"We had no intent in our defence. Pretty simple," McGregor said.
"You've got to have a bit more want than that as well.
"The first 40 minutes was nowhere near to a standard that we can accept.
"And obviously the second [half] was a bit of scoreboard stuff. But the second 40 [minutes] we won 12-6... we were never in the game."
