Whether Lomax stays at the Dragons beyond next season remains to be seen, but it’s clear there’s growing tension between player and club.

Flanagan says he won’t release the 24-year-old this season but will open discussions about his future after round four. If the player was happy, they wouldn’t be having discussions at all.

Two stories in the last week suggest there’s trouble in WIN Stadium paradise.

The first was raised on Fox Sports about a meeting between Lomax and Flanagan in which the coach delivered some home truths. Actually, some hard facts: that, statistically, Lomax ranked “22nd or 23rd” out of the 34 centres in the game.

It was a telling figure, and a sobering one for Lomax, but the mere fact that details of such a personal meeting between player and coach were leaked suggests the Dragons have had enough of the narrative around their moody outside back.

The second story was broken by the Herald on Sunday and it was about the Dragons chasing Wallabies star Jordan Petaia, who is off contract at the end of the year. A potential fullback or centre, he’d be a perfect replacement if Lomax found another club.

So not only are the Dragons prepared to start talks about releasing Lomax, but they also have their eyes on a ready-made replacement. After one round.

Surely, the better outcome for the Dragons and Lomax is for them to hug it out and live happily ever after. For Lomax to become the superstar centre/fullback/winger he was born to be and the Dragons to be his happy place for the rest of his career.

How many more local juniors will the Dragons let go? How many will they let go and then pay for them to come back?

Kogarah-born prop Hame Sele showed all the promise in the world when he was playing for the Dragons’ NYC side, representing Australian schoolboys and NSW under-20s along the way. He played two seasons of NRL before being set free, his career parked at the crossroads. Penrith picked him up, and he showed enough to earn a contract with South Sydney.

Last year, the Dragons signed him on a three-year deal.

Hurstville United junior Luciano Leilua played with Sele in the same NYC and Australian teams before graduating to the NRL side, only to be cut adrift after four seasons. He returns this season after four seasons at the Wests Tigers and Cowboys, ready to wreak havoc on an edge.

He’s also on a three-year deal: $900,000 this season and then $700,000 a year for 2025 and 2026.

Apart from the Tigers, only the Dragons could set free quality local juniors before paying more to entice them back to their club.

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Often, players need a change to realise their potential, but most just require the right kind of coaching and support to turn them into quality players.

That Sele and Leilua return as vastly better players than when they left speaks to the dysfunction that’s existed at the joint-venture for years.

Both are expected to line up against the Dolphins in Redcliffe on Sunday night, along with last year’s player of the year, Blake Lawrie. How long has it been since the Dragons could inject that type of talent into their forward pack?

Which brings us back to Lomax, who hails from Temora and has come through the Illawarra junior system.

He’s on $800,000 a year until the end of 2026, but both Parramatta and the Roosters are reportedly interested in getting him sooner.

The easy option for Flanagan would be to let a cranky player go, but he assures me he wants to make it work with Lomax.

If that’s the case, it’s on Lomax to make it work with the Dragons. Imagine how much better it will be for both parties if they do?

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