St George Illawarra young gun Tyrell Sloan has praised Dragons coach Anthony Griffin for dropping him from first grade last season.

There has been plenty of speculation about Griffin’s ability to connect with the rookies in the Dragons club with the likes of Sloan and Jayden Sullivan actually requesting releases in 2022.

“I actually thanked ‘Hook’ [Griffin] for dropping me last year, it’s made me come back stronger and be a lot happier and ready for 2023,” Sloan told NRL.com.

“He’s straight-forward and I’d rather be told up front than be lied to. He’s a great man and I now see why it happened.

“I was kicking stones blaming everyone else but this year I just want to take it on and handle any criticism that comes my way and lead the Red V.”