Jason Ryles turns down the coaching job with the St. George Illawarra Dragons and instead leaves the Roosters to join Storm

St George Illawarra’s race for a new manager was reduced to two candidates after Jason Ryles turned down the joint venture offer, opting instead to return to Melbourne as Craig Bellamy’s likely successor.

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

However, CEO Ryan Webb confirmed Ryles had been in touch just after 9am on Wednesday to confirm he would be withdrawing from the race to coach the club, where he had played 156 first-tier games.

“It was just a matter of timing and that it didn’t quite fit,” Webb said.

The Roosters’ current assistant coach Jason Ryles (pictured) stunned pundits and fans alike when he snubbed the Dragons on Wednesday morning

The former Red V star was thought to be the replacement for sacked manager Anthony Griffin (pictured) at the ailing joint venture club

“We had a process in place and there were other candidates and we’re going to go back and continue with that now.”

It seemed like the Dragons would unveil Ryles as their coach within a week, but the 44-year-old’s decision to return to the Storm means they’re going back to the drawing board.

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

Ryles’ move back to Melbourne, where he was an assistant from 2016-2020, puts him in the favor of replacing Bellamy as Storm coach in 2025.

Bellamy recently confirmed he will be coaching until 2024 but is ready to take on the role of coaching director after that.

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

He won two Premierships as an assistant to Bellamy at the Storm, worked alongside Eddie Jones on the England rugby union side and joined perennial heavyweights Sydney Roosters in 2022.

The Dragons (pictured last Thursday’s loss to the Dolphins) are having a terrible season and are currently bottom of the table

South Sydney assistant coach Hornby and North Queensland’s Young are now struggling to coach the club where they won the Premier League in 2010.

There is hope that the arrival of a top-flight coach could soon attract players to the Dragons who have struggled to attract outstanding finals talent for four consecutive seasons.

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

“It’s also in the current NRL season that there are opportunities for player movement.”

“You also have to keep an eye on your ceiling, you can’t sign players who a new manager thinks don’t fit his system or his style.”

“One part is about keeping what you have, but the other part is about opportunities and you want to be able to take advantage of them when the right opportunity comes along.”

Ryles’ decision means his former Red V team-mates Dean Young (left) and Ben Hornby (right, pictured with former St George coach Wayne Bennett after the club’s big finals win in 2010) are the top contenders for the takeover are

Webb was confident that the appointment of the new manager would not necessarily mean an overhaul of the rest of the coaching staff and believed there was still room at the club for current caretaker manager Ryan Carr.

“No matter who you hire, whether it’s a novice coach or an experienced coach, you still have to look at it as a whole range of football coaching and support,” he said.

“I assume whoever comes in is going to have a few other people come in and support him.”

“(But) we have a lot of good people, ‘Carry’ is fantastic and he’s doing a good job at the moment.” I hope that we can keep the panels that we have here now and just expand them to include even more skills and bring expertise to the areas we need.

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