Jack de Belin court case will see St George Illawarra Dragons one player short in 2021

Jack de Belin’s ongoing legal drama is set to make the NRL an uneven competition in 2021 - Fatima Kdouh details why.

St George Illawarra's Jack Bird and Jack de Belin. Pictures: Dragons Digital/NCA NewsWire - Simon Bullard

St George Illawarra will not be seeking any salary cap dispensation for Jack de Belin, who is part of the Dragons top 30 roster in season 2021.

The former NSW Blues forward remains stood down under the NRL’s no-fault stand down policy after a jury failed to reach a verdict in his rape trial earlier this week.

Up until his contract expired in October, de Belin had been on full pay, around $600,000 a season, during the course of the trial.

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The 29-year old has agreed to a three-year extension with the club but will only receive a percentage of his salary while the trial is ongoing.

The retrial will take place in Sydney next year from April 12 over a three-week period. If found not guilty, de Belin could be eligible to play as soon as round nine against Canterbury on May 9.

But a more immediate concern for the Dragons is how they will negotiate their top 30 roster until the case is finally resolved.

Jack de Belin at Wollongong Courthouse. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

The salary cap rules allow the club to apply for special dispensation to add an extra player to their roster while de Belin is ineligible to play.

But Dragons CEO Ryan Webb confirmed to The Daily Telegraph the club would not take that course of action.

As it stands, all clubs must have 29 places filled on their roster by March 1 with the final spot to be confirmed before June 30. But that figure is under review by the NRL, clubs and RLPA and is expected to be lowered to 28 players by March 1 in the coming weeks.

In St George Illawarra’s case, new coach Anthony Griffin is then facing the possibility of only having 27 players available for selection in round one since de Belin is part of the top 30 roster – despite his new deal with the Red V being unregistered with the NRL.

The absence of de Belin for the third-straight season has left the side without an established lock in the no. 13 jumper.

New Dragons coach Anthony Griffin

Since de Belin last wore the Red V in a preliminary final against South Sydney in September 2018, the Dragons have struggled to find a replacement for the lock.

Former coach Paul McGregor experimented with a number of options over seasons 2019 and 2020 – including, Blake Lawrie, Tyson Frizell, James Graham, Jackson Ford and Cameron McInnes.

McInnes was named to start at lock in eight games last year and shapes as one of the front runners to don the no. 13 jumper again in season 2021.

But coach Griffin has indicated a preference to play Ben Hunt in the halves meaning McInnes is likely to take his usual spot at hooker.

It puts the likes of Lawrie and Ford in the running to start at lock. Veteran forward Trent Merrin and Jack Bird are also options.

St George Illawarra's Jack Bird and Jack de Belin. Pictures: Dragons Digital/NCA NewsWire - Simon Bullard

Despite Bird’s ability to play in the centres, halves or even fullback, there are also plenty of good judges who have long believed his best position would be lock.

Awarded the 2015 Dally M Rookie gong, the Wollongong product then went and won a premiership with Cronulla the following year while also racking up five Origins, an Indigenous All Stars game and that $975K-a-year contract in Brisbane.

But after three luckless seasons up north, Bird now returns to the same Dragons club where he once starred as an U/20s player.

However, the potential Dragons No.13 is yet to play first grade for the club after leaving in 2015 for Cronulla, where he played 67 matches in three seasons.