'No soft moments': Dragons' Sloan a work in progress

Tyrell Sloan produced a mixed bag in St George Illawarra’s trial-game loss to South Sydney.

There are still some “soft moments” to eliminate from Tyrell Sloan’s game, Shane Flanagan says, but St George Illawarra’s new coach insists he has seen more consistency from the young fullback across the pre-season.

Sloan came up with a mixed performance in the Dragons’ first trial match, a 28-6 loss to South Sydney at Kogarah on Saturday night.

The 21-year-old was pivotal to the Dragons’ most exciting moment in attack, grabbing a short ball from Ben Hunt and slicing through the middle of the park.

But Sloan misfired his pass inside and coughed-up possession at close range.

He bombed another try knocking the ball on later in the first half before turning it over on his goal-line and gifting Jacob Host the Rabbitohs’ first four-pointer.

Lauded for his pace and raw ability, Sloan has long been viewed as the man capable of unlocking the struggling Dragons’ attack.

But inconsistency has been just as enduring a theme for the 21-year-old.

“It’s something we need to work on,” Flanagan said.

“He’s got talent, but there’s the ying and the yang isn’t there? We just need to work that out.”

Flanagan said Sloan had taken steps in the right direction this pre-season.

“We’ve tried to toughen him up … make him really aware that you can’t be thinking about other things, you need to be in the moment.

“It’s a tough job in the NRL, there’s no soft moments. Unfortunately that (knock-on that led to a South Sydney try) was a soft moment.”

Mat Feagai finished the game at fullback and Flanagan could experiment further against Wests Tigers in the second pre-season trial.

After reporting back spasms, Zac Lomax was overlooked for any time at fullback but is expected to be available to face the Tigers on Saturday night.

Lomax spent the first half of the game on the wing before shifting to his preferred position of centre and then earning an early mark.

Met with external scepticism, Lomax’s move to the wing was thwarted on Saturday night by his injury.

“We probably didn’t see the best of him. It’s a work in progress there,” Flanagan said.

The coach is likely to keep tinkering with his wingers against the Tigers, with Mikaele Ravalawa and last-minute recruit Christian Tuipulotu also featuring out wide against Souths.

“Mika can do a very similar job on both sides, Christian’s more of a left-side winger,” Flanagan said.

“Zac’s more of a right-side player. We’ve just got to work that out.”