Damien Cook has told St George Illawarra players a premiership can be on the horizon, as he prepares to hand over the mantle to the Dragons' young brigade.
Cook will play his 263rd and final NRL game against Parramatta at WIN Stadium on Sunday, with his exit fittingly coming at the same ground he regularly attended as a child.
The Dragons have endured a difficult season on the way to the club's first wooden spoon, but the green shoots are clearly there.
Hamish Stewart and the Couchman twins headline the rising talent at the club, with Dylan Egan and Loko Pasifiki Tonga offer plenty of promise in the pack.
The joint venture have also recruited the best of any side for next season, with Scott Drinkwater, Luke Metcalf, Kodi Nikorima, Keaon Kolomotangi and Phil Sami bound for the club.
"I've told some of the young guys, if you get it right over over the next bit I don't see why there can't be a premiership here in the next three-to-five years," Cook told AAP.
"I'll definitely be watching closely next year and I've got no doubt they're going to have success next year because I just see the standard that they've got.
"Just with the style of footy that they've got, the young talent that they have in the forwards and some good signings coming in."
A fairytale grand-final win aside, Cook considers playing his final game in Wollongong as a perfect end to his NRL career before moving to the Super League.
The dummy-half grew up playing for Helensburgh in the Illawarra competition, and regularly sat on the WIN Stadium hill as a kid.
His journey since then has also been unique. Cook bounced around the Dragons, Penrith and Canterbury before really getting a proper chance in the NRL.
He became a regular NRL player as a 25-year-old at South Sydney in 2016, while he only became their first-choice No.9 two seasons later.
Within months he had won the NSW No.9 jersey, become the best running hooker in the NRL.
But after earning four Test caps for Australia and going within a whisker of a premiership with the Rabbitohs in 2021, his NRL career will finish back in Wollongong.
"It's special that it worked out that way," the Dragons co-captain said.
"As a kid there were a couple of times you'd get on the field at halftime, with the old-school club relay we used to do.
"But even being on the hill, or a lot of the time we'd try to sneak around the stadium and find the good seats to get as close as we could to the players.
"I've got a lot of good memories of WIN Stadium and just footy in general along the coast here, with some time at the (Thirroul) Butchers as well. It's pretty cool."
