Dragons young gun Jayden Sullivan has opened up on his relationship with veteran halfback Ben Hunt and backed coach Anthony Griffin to take the club forward, while calling his pre-season release request “a hiccup”.
Sullivan enjoyed a stellar return to the NRL on Sunday and his two-try performance almost proved the difference against the Wests Tigers.
The 21-year-old was axed to NSW Cup when Junior Amone returned, but Griffin named Sullivan on the bench against the Tigers after controversially dropping Zac Lomax.
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Sullivan was electric from the moment he came on in the 25th minute to play halfback as Hunt moved to hooker.
“Individually I feel like I went all right but the main thing was to win today and we didn’t,” Sullivan said.
“I’ve been waiting to play ever since I got dropped, I wanted to come back the next week, but it didn’t make a difference tonight anyway, we lost.
“Our focus this week was to get a win and we played 79 minutes of good footy and lost it at the end.
“Hook (Griffin) just gave me a few goals to focus on, my kicking game and my defence and just being energetic around the ball and running the ball with purpose.
“Hook gave me a job to do today and that was just to play footy and I felt like I let the team down at the end, I kicked a seven-tackle set that probably changed the game and probably got them home in the end, so there’s just some things in my game that I have to fix and I can’t let them creep in.”
Sullivan requested a release at the end of last season after the club re-signed Hunt until the of 2025.
But it was swiftly rejected and Griffin explained how the playmaker fits into the club’s future, with Sullivan now comfortable biding his time behind Hunt.
“(Hunt) and I are in a position where two can’t go into one and he’s a 300-game halfback and I get to learn off him,” Sullivan said.
“I’m in no stage to take over and if he is the No. 7 next week then he is the No. 7, I’m not going to sit here complaining, I just want to win and so does he so that’s the focus.
“He’s teaching me how to be a first-grader. He’s my roomie and how he prepares and how I prepare are completely different. Just watching how he prepared last night, it was probably the first time I’ve gone to bed before 9:30pm.
“If I’m playing first grade each week, I’m learning so that’s the main focus, just to play first grade and there’s no better person to learn off than Ben Hunt.”
Dragons Press Conference | 04:44
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Sullivan opened up on his conversation with Griffin following his release request and emphasised the under-pressure coach is the man to lead the club out of their five-game losing streak.
“At the start of the pre-season there was a bit of a hiccup there but I got some clarity on what I want to do and what Hook wants me to do and I just have to put some belief back in the club and get us back to where we want to be,” Sullivan said.
“I love Hook, he is brutally honest. The first three games I played this year he told me to my face that that’s not how I play footy and sent me back to reserve grade for a reason and made me work on what I need to.
“In the four reserve grade games I played I felt like I was playing all right and Hook put trust in me to play this week and I feel like I let him down at the end.
“He wanted me to work on my defence and my energy around the ball and kick chase, just effort areas in my game.
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“Hook has been with us for three years now and has been with us since pre-season so I feel like a change isn’t going to do anything. I have a lot of belief in Hook and Hook has a lot of belief in me, I’ll support him either way.
“The media is always going to blow it up into something. He’s not on the field, we’re the ones that are on the field and he takes it on the chin and credit to him, he doesn’t bring it into training, he doesn’t bring bad energy with him. I’m with Hook.”
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