Lachlan Ilias joked that he wanted to take Cody Walker’s head off in the Charity Shield, but instead he’ll have to settle for a reunion with a stack of his closest friends as he prepares to take on the Rabbitohs for the first time since they let him go.
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The Dragons halfback made his return to rugby league in last week’s trial win over the Roosters, but things will go up a notch or two in Mudgee in what should be an emotional game against the club that handed him his NRL debut in 2021.
That just so happened to be against the Dragons, with Ilias thinking at the time that it was the start of a long and decorated career at South Sydney.
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But after being dropped to reserve grade where he suffered a shocking leg injury last year, Ilias was then told that he wouldn’t be the first-choice halfback in 2025 and was released from his deal in November.
He’s now at the Dragons and loving life, with the playmaker set to come up against the man who replaced him, Lewis Dodd, but he won’t get to face his former five-eighth who will miss the annual event.
“I wish Cody was playing. I wanted to take his head off,” Ilias said.
“I’ve got a good relationship with all those boys, but they’ll probably want to take my head off.
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“It’ll be a fun game, but we’re just trying to focus on ourselves and keep building on what we’ve done in the pre-season.
“I wouldn’t say it was tough – it was another opportunity.
“The hardest part was leaving the boys. Everyone says that when they leave a club because they’ve built such great relationships with the players, and that was a tough conversation I had to have with them.
“It’s a bit of a weight off the shoulders once you have that chat. I was a Rabbitoh on Monday and a Dragon on Tuesday, and I’ve loved my time here.”
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Ilias joked that he might perform the “Gutherino” if he scores against his former side, but he stressed he had no animosity towards the Rabbitohs who were honest from the outset about their plans for him in 2025.
“I think everyone appreciates honesty in this game, so I was glad that they were honest with me,” he said.
“Everything happens for a reason, and it led me to where I’m standing now. I’m grateful for that and I love where I’m at.”
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The 24-year-old knows that confidence will develop with the more minutes he plays as he continues his journey back from injury, and his job last week was made easier by halves partner Kyle Flanagan, who Ilias said “would’ve got six Dally M points”.
Flanagan controlled the attack, but Ilias still produced one big play in defence when he chopped down Roosters giant De La Salle Va’a, who is 198cm tall and weighs 117kg.
“There’s not much to it,” he laughed, acknowledging that it was a big step in his comeback to footy.
“I knew I had to put my body on the line on the big fella. Lucky I did just enough.
“Whether you fully commit to a tackle or you get roughed up a bit after you pass ball and then you get up right away, it’s little things like that that get you back in the groove of things.
“It’s all part of the process.”
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