Former players Merrin and Packer emerge as targets for Dragons

St George Illawarra could send an SOS for former club favourites Trent Merrin and Russell Packer after being awarded special dispensation from the NRL to help cover the absence of stood-down State of Origin star Jack de Belin.

Russell Packer and Trent Merrin have emerged as targets for the Dragons.

St George Illawarra could send an SOS for former club favourites Trent Merrin and Russell Packer after being awarded special dispensation from the NRL to help cover the absence of stood-down State of Origin star Jack de Belin.

The league on Tuesday said the Dragons would be able to outlay $239,000 on signing a replacement forward for de Belin, who has been stood down under the NRL’s “no-fault” policy after being charged with aggravated sexual assault.

De Belin has pleaded not guilty, but is unable to play until at least the case against him is finalised in court.

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An NRL spokesman told AAP the amount the Dragons could spend on a replacement was the “exact proportion” of de Belin’s salary for the remainder of the 2019 season.

But in granting the Dragons cap relief — which the club applied for last week — NRL salary cap auditor Richard Gardham stipulated that the club can only purchase a forward.

Such a scenario opens the door for Merrin or Packer to return to the club.

Merrin is in the first season of a four-year deal with Leeds Rhinos in the European Super League after being shipped from Penrith, but the former NSW State of Origin and Australian Test forward is said to be home sick.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting Panthers half James Maloney could hold the key to the switch, with Leeds keen on luring him to the club to help save them from relegation.

The reports says Leeds would be more willing to release Merrin from the remaining three years of his rich four-year deal if they could secure Maloney.

The 29-year-old played 134 games for the Dragons during a seven-season stint at the Red V and was a member of Wayne Bennett’s 2010 premiership-winning team before moving to Penrith in 2016.

Packer, also 29, is out of favour with Wests Tigers’ first-year coach Michael Maguire, the former Kiwi international languishing in reserve grade with Western Suburbs for the past month.

Packer’s future at the Tigers is uncertain, with talk he will unlikely play first grade again at the joint venture outfit.

He played some of his best football during a two-year spell at St George Illawarra after being handed a career lifeline by coach Paul McGregor in 2016 following his release from prison.

Packer spent a year in jail after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm during an attack on a 22-year-old man in Sydney in 2013 before turning his career — and life — around.

In addition to being without de Belin, the Dragons’ forward stocks have nosedived further with Tyson Frizell’s Origin call-up for NSW and the loss of co-captain James Graham for eight weeks with a fibula fracture.

Originally published as Former players Merrin and Packer emerge as targets for Dragons