St George Illawarra have told Moses Suli on Wednesday he is free to find a new team and explore opportunities elsewhere next season, making him the first contracted player pushed toward the exit in a sweeping roster shake-up.
That move matters now because the Dragons are not just trimming the edges. They are preparing for a reset that could see more than a dozen players from their Top 30 squad gone by next season, while Connor Watson, Keaon Koloamatangi, Luke Metcalf, Phillip Sami and Scott Drinkwater are set to arrive. The scale of the churn gives the club’s plans a hard deadline and puts the spotlight on who stays and who goes.
Suli’s situation stands out because his current deal does not expire until the end of 2027. Yet he has been told to look around anyway, a signal that the Dragons are willing to move on from contracted players if the right exits or replacements can be found. Damien Cook, Jaydn Su’A and Mathew Feagai are already departing, Blake Lawrie, Christian Tuipulotu, Hame Sele, Nathan Lawson and Tyrell Sloan are set to be moved on without new deals, and Emre Guler has been linked with Wakefield Trinity. Luciano Leilua has also been linked with the exit doors.
The focus then shifts to Valentine Holmes, because he is one of the biggest names still tied to the club and could also be in the firing line. Holmes and Clint Gutherson are taking up around $1.8 million of the salary cap combined, and Holmes has been horrendously out of form this season. Michael Carayannis said Holmes would have no trouble finding another NRL club if he were willing to take a significant pay cut, and added that if Holmes could secure a longer-term deal elsewhere, the Dragons would not stand in his way.
Gutherson, 31, is also part of the discussion, but he is described as not sellable and is coming to the final stages of his career, with his age showing throughout this season. That leaves the Dragons trying to balance performance, salary cap pressure and contract length all at once, with Holmes a 22-time Queensland Maroons representative and a 21-time Australian Kangaroos representative whose standing in the game still makes him a movable piece if the money and timing line up.
Brent Read summed up the mood by saying the club is gutting the joint, bringing in a lot of new faces while clearing room for them. The unanswered piece is whether Holmes becomes one of the veterans squeezed out by that purge or stays because the club cannot land a deal that suits both sides. For now, Suli has already been told to go searching, and the next wave of decisions could decide how much of the Dragons’ 2027 core is still there by opening day next season.
