Jack de Belin announced to be Dragons captain with club in crisis

St George Illawarra has made the shock move to announce Jack de Belin as its new captain with the club in the middle of a crisis.

Jack De Belin of the Dragons. Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Jack de Belin will captain St George Illawarra.

The club has confirmed de Belin will lead the team on Thursday night when they tackle the Dolphins at Kayo Stadium in Brisbane.

De Belin was reported to have been on NSW coach Brad Fittler’s radar for a potential State of Origin re-call — but he has instead received a very big promotion of a different kind.

The 32-year-old has been given the honour with the club in the middle of a coaching and leadership crisis.

Ben Hunt’s selection for Queensland leaves the captaincy vacant and obvious replacements Blake Lawrie and Jaydn Su’A are unavailable for selection for the Round 13 clash.

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Jack Bird and Zac Lomax are the other two members of the Dragons’ leadership group that were up for consideration.

Lomax was earlier this month axed by former coach Anthony Griffin before returning to the team under caretaker coach Ryan Carr.

Bird has also struggled for consistency this season.

De Belin has previously been considered for the top office, but the club has looked in other directions because of the media storm the appointment creates.

In May, 2021, the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew sexual assault charges against de Belin and his co-accused Callan Sinclair following two District Court trials which ended in hung juries. Both men consistently maintained they were innocent and had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Then in July, 2021, de Belin was alleged to have misled Dragons officials about his involvement in a BBQ at former teammate Paul Vaughan’s house that broke NSW Covid-19 regulations, resulting in $305,000 worth of fines handed out to players and saw Vaughan’s contract ripped up.

After a three-year hiatus from the NRL, de Belin made his long-awaited return to professional rugby league in 2021 and has become a key player for the club.

As first reported by News Corp, Dragons head of football Ben Haran has confirmed de Belin will skipper the team.

“Jack is our most experienced player who has been in really good form and carried himself exceptionally well off the field this season,” Haran said.

“We are missing our captain in Ben Hunt and we felt Jack is someone who commands a lot of respect from his teammates.

“He is part of our leadership group and is a great competitor.”

The club is desperate to find strong leadership as the club tries to move on from Grffin’s tenure.

St George Illawarra is yet to appoint a coach for the 2024 season.

Highly-rated Roosters assistant coach Jason Ryles is reported to have been the front-runner for the position, but the situation took a twist on Monday night with NRL guru Phil Gould declaring on Channel 9 that Ryles may not be interested in the position.

Jack De Belin will be the next captain of the Red V. Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images.

Club great Dean Young is also reported to be a strong candidate for the job.

The appointment could be the critical call in the club’s hopes of keeping Hunt with the club.

The 33-year-old is contracted to the Dragons until the end of 2025 in potentially his last NRL deal, but he is on record as saying Griffin’s potential sacking could lead to a rethink.

Braith Anasta believes the Bulldogs would be the ideal fit for Hunt should he try to find a way out of his contract in light of Griffin’s departure.

“I’m not sure he wants to stay there, in my eyes there are a lot of other clubs that would be circling, there is one that stands out to me and that is the Bulldogs,” Anasta said.

“There are murmurs that the Bulldogs are chasing, I know Gus has interest in Hunt.

“Hunt would be the perfect fit for the Bulldogs right now, Kikau to come back in, Mahoney, Burton, Crichton to come in next year.

Ben Hunt fends off the Bulldogs. Photo by Matt King/Getty Images.

“He would be the perfect solution to the Bulldogs.”

The Daily Telegraph’s Dave Riccio believes Dragons fans should be furious that the club’s handling of the Griffin situation seems likely to cost the club its most important player.

“This is why Dragons fans deserve to be absolutely filthy,” Riccio said.

“Dragons management have created this situation where, not only have they been unable and are unable, to recruit star power, to recruit from outside because they can’t sell a story.

“You can’t go to the Dragons because you don’t know who the head coach is, you’d only be going for an opportunity and that only lasts for so long.

“The Ben Hunt situation, I think this is headed for a divorce. Why would Ben Hunt was to stick around through another process under a new coach when the potential of the Bulldogs would be appealing.”

Originally published as Jack de Belin announced to be Dragons captain with club in crisis