Jason Ryles rejects St George Illawarra Dragons coaching job in favour of leaving Roosters for Storm

St George Illawarra’s race for a new coach has been reduced to two candidates after Jason Ryles rejected the joint venture offer and instead decided to return to Melbourne as Craig Bellamy’s likely successor.

Ryles had been the favorite to succeed ousted Anthony Griffin as head coach, with fellow ex-Dragons and current NRL assistant coaches Ben Hornby and Dean Young in tow.

But CEO Ryan Webb confirmed that Ryles had reached out just after 9am on Wednesday to confirm he would withdraw from the race to coach the club where he played 156 first-class games.

“It was just about the timing and it didn’t quite fit,” said Webb.

The former Red V star was thought to be a shoo-in to replace sacked coach Anthony Griffin (pictured) at the struggling joint venture club

“We had a process and there were other candidates, and we’re moving forward with that now.”

The Dragons looked poised to reveal Ryles as their coach in a week, but will have to go back to the drawing board following the 44-year-old’s decision to return to the Storm.

Webb remained hopeful that the Dragons could appoint a new coach “sooner rather than later” to give him enough time to work on the club’s roster.

Ryles’ move to Melbourne, where he was an assistant from 2016 to 2020, sees him favoritism to replace Bellamy as Storm coach in 2025.

Bellamy recently confirmed he would coach until 2024, but is about to move into a coaching role after that.

Ryles’ extensive resume as an assistant coach meant that he had initially trumped Hornby and Young as the Dragons’ preferred option.

He won two premierships as assistant to Bellamy at the Storm, partnered Eddie Jones in the set-up of England’s rugby union and joined perennial heavyweights the Sydney Roosters in 2022.

The Dragons (pictured during last Thursday’s loss to the Dolphins) are having a horror season and are currently last on the ladder

South Sydney assistant Hornby and North Queensland’s Young now jostle to coach the club where they won the premiership in 2010.

There is hope that having a highly regarded coach on the books may soon lure players to the Dragons, who have struggled to draw great talent out of the Finals for four consecutive seasons.

“There’s that part when you want to renew current players,” Webb said.

“It also comes at this time in the current NRL season where opportunities for player movement are starting to emerge.

You also have to manage your cap, you can’t bring in players that a new coach thinks don’t fit his system or his style.

“It’s about keeping what you’ve got, but two chances and wanting to be able to take advantage when the right one comes along.”

Ryles’ decision means his ex-Red V teammates Dean Young (left) and Ben Hornby (right, pictured with ex-St George coach Wayne Bennett after the club’s 2010 grand final) are front-runners to to take over

Webb hoped that bringing in the new coach would not necessarily mean overhauling the rest of the coaching staff and believed there would still be room for current interim coach Ryan Carr at the club.

“It doesn’t matter who you bring in, whether it’s a newbie coach or an experienced coach, you still need to see it as a whole range of football coaching and support around that,” he said.

“I suspect whoever comes in will have a few other pieces to come in there and support.

“(But) we have a lot of good people, ‘Carry’ is fantastic and he’s doing well at the moment. I hope we can keep the agencies we have here now and just add to them to bring in a little more skills and expertise in areas that we need.

“I don’t think anyone here is against getting better.”