Fresh Dragons blow after Ryles snub as 40-year sponsor withdraws $1m funding
Things have gone from bad to worse for the Dragons after Jason Ryles turned down the opportunity to take over as head coach of the Red V, with the club hit with a major sponsorship loss.
The 44-year-old has instead signed with the Melbourne Storm in a pathways and development role from next season, according to Fox League’s James Hooper.
The moves means Ryles could become Craig Bellamy’s successor, but he will have to wait at least another season after the master coach extended his contract for the 2024 season on May 15.
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Bellamy signed a five-year deal in 2022 that allows the veteran coach to decide each year whether he wants to continue as the Storm’s head coach. The 2024 season will be his 22nd in charge of the Melbourne club.
Now the Dragons’ major sponsor, St George Bank, have pulled their funding reportedly worth north of $1 million per-season.
That is according to The Daily Telegraph, who are reporting Red V officials were informed of the bank’s decision on Wednesday.
St George Bank have sponsored the club for 40 years but have been left with a bad taste in their mouth regarding the behaviour of players off the field.
They also reportedly have concerns regarding the club’s management with the Dragons currently sitting dead last.
The current contract was set to expire at the end of this season, but the Sydney Morning Herald reports the company extended their contract for one final year to allow the club time to find a new front-of-shirt sponsor.
“We can confirm that 2024 will be the final season of St George Bank’s sponsorship of the St George Illawarra Dragons,” a St George Bank spokesman was quoted by the Herald.
“The partnership has been an important sponsorship for the bank, but the time is right to pursue new opportunities for our communities, business and customer priorities. We will continue to support the Dragons through 2024 as they assess their future sponsorship arrangements.”
The Telegraph reports club officials are attempting to salvage the relationship with a smaller sponsorship amount.
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Meanwhile, the Dragons will now point their coaching recruitment efforts elsewhere after being on the verge of signing Ryles.
That leaves interim head coach Ryan Carr in the role for the remainder of the season and the club’s chief executive confirmed the blow.
“Jason notified us this morning that he no longer wanted to be considered for the role,” Webb said to The Daily Telegraph.
“It wasn’t the right time for him.”
Webb also told the SMH that the Dragons will announce their long term coach in the next fortnight.
“There’s been a process ongoing with all the other candidates, we just continue that on,” he said.
“There’s just one less candidate in the mix now.
“I still hope we can get it done in the next week or two. We don’t want this to drag out, we need to sort this out as quickly as possible.
“We have something in motion, it’s not like we need to start something now.”
Ryles is currently an assistant coach at the Sydney Roosters, but will join the Storm at the end of the current season.
It comes after Fox League’s James Hooper reported that Roosters powerbrokers told him to “stay wide of all further commitments with the club”.
Ryles initially signed with the Tricolours to be the club’s defensive coach until the end of 2025, however they were left disgruntled surrounding his negotiations with the Dragons.
