St George Illawarra face the very real prospect of having disgruntled skipper Ben Hunt lead out the NRL club in Friday night's home game against the Warriors with his Dragons future far from resolved.
The Dragons are digging their heels in as they attempt to hold on to their star playmaker, who on Sunday requested an immediate release from the final two-and-a-half years of his lucrative contract.
The request was denied, with CEO Ryan Webb hoping he and incoming coach Shane Flanagan can convince Hunt to stay on.
Complicating matters is the fact Hunt is in camp with Queensland ahead of Wednesday night's State of Origin II, making it difficult to see a resolution before the WIN Stadium clash against the Warriors.
"I won't get the chance to see him, he will be at Origin until late Thursday, so no it won't be resolved in that sense," Webb said on Monday.
"But I think there's still a strong enough relationship there and my very brief chat with him, he was going to be OK to come and play Friday if need be."
Should he back up from Origin, it will be interesting to see what sort of reception Hunt receives from the Wollongong faithful.
Webb admitted he was surprised by the release request, which came hot on the heels of the club's signing of Flanagan as coach from next season on a three-year deal.
Flanagan has made no secret of his desire to build the team around Hunt, saying he sees the 33-year-old as the club's skipper and first-choice No.7.
It is believed part of Hunt's motivation for wanting out of the club is his desire to challenge for an elusive premiership before he retires, something Webb hopes to convince him is possible at the Dragons by the end of his contract in 2025.
"Shane Flanagan, new coach coming in ... we think there's some really good players in this squad," Webb said.
"We think there's plenty of upside in this squad, particularly some young kids coming through, and with a bit more talent dotted in around that we think we can turn things around fairly quickly."
Asked if he envisaged a scenario in which the club would release Hunt, Webb said "not at this stage", saying he wanted to sit down with Hunt first.
"The first part, I think is understanding his reasoning behind it," Webb said of the release request.
"We had some initial discussions around winning and the want to win - they've been bubbling for a couple of weeks now.
"I think there's a couple of other pieces that he wants to talk about.
"We hope that in the coming days, weeks, we can do that sit down face to face and get a bit of understanding of where it's coming from, and then we can address those and that's how I think we might be able to turn him around."
