Webb didn’t guarantee Sloan or Sullivan, who also asked for his own release to join the Bulldogs, anything.

“There’s a spot for you, but nothing’s given,” Webb told Sloan and Sullivan. “You’ve got to compete for your spots.”

It was a brave call in an era where managers can hold a gun to a club’s head and write their client’s name on a team sheet before the coach does.

Last Sunday night, the Dragons’ first game of the year, Sloan picked up the ball from dummy-half late in the first half and scorched across the turf, leaving Titans defenders such as million-dollar man David Fifita, in his wake. It was breathtaking. Jacob Liddle scored under the posts seconds later.

After a wretched 2022 in which he was in and out of the NRL side and wasn’t on the same page as coach Anthony Griffin, Sloan was finally smiling.

“You get young 18-and-19-year-olds coming through and they show little glimpses of excellence with one or two good plays and everyone gets excited, the media, fans saying they’re the next big thing,” Dragons captain Ben Hunt says before his side’s clash with the unbeaten Broncos on Saturday night. “They say, ‘he’s going to be Sonny Bill or Benji Marshall’.”

Sloan has been compared to ex-Cronulla fullback David Peachey.

“I think it really inflates them and puts too much expectation on them when everything doesn’t go to plan,” Hunt says. “It can all turn really fast on them. It’s really unfair. You want to play those guys, but I can understand from the coaching staff they really want to develop them. You don’t want to throw them to the wolves straight away. It’s a real balancing act.”

Sloan’s NRL career might be a reflection of his life, raised by his grandmother Colleen, who presented him with his debut jersey in 2021. Sloan’s father was just 16 when he was born and Colleen took custody of Tyrell and his older brother Ash.

“It was hard to watch last year,” says Sloan’s teammate Moses Mbye, who has taken on a mentoring role with the 20-year-old. “Without going into it too much, he hasn’t been given anything through his life. He’s had to earn everything he’s got. That’s going to pay him back in spades.

“He’s stated that publicly, he just looked in the mirror and probably realised he was kicking stones at some point. It takes a lot of courage and a lot of maturity [to admit to that]. It really reflects on the type of person he is.

“Now he’s my son’s favourite player. He comes over for promos for me.”

The sight of Sloan being consoled by Latrell Mitchell on the field after the Dragons’ Charity Shield humbling at the hands of the Rabbitohs gave an insight into the pressure of trying to make it in the NRL.

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But it also showed how comfortable Sloan is in the company of his Indigenous All-Stars teammates such as Mitchell and his brother Shaquai and Nicho Hynes. Asked about his All-Stars experience, the Wiradjuri man signs off with “I’m proud to be Aboriginal”.

“Even though there’s a perception he might have matured more over the last 12 months, I reckon he’s always had a level head whenever you have a chat with him, and he’s mature beyond his years,” Indigenous All-Stars coach Ronnie Griffiths said.

“The good ones, things just happen around them on the field. They turn up in the right spot and they’ve got great anticipation. His movements are effortless and you just know when he’s on the field, things will happen around him because he puts himself in that position.

“I’ve got no doubt he learned some lessons out of [our camps] to perfect his own craft. He’s a beautiful person.”