Why a stint on the bench could be the best thing that ever happened to Dragons young gun Talatau Amone

The Dragons faithful were up in arms when rising five-eighth Talatau Amone was benched, but it could be the best thing that ever happened to the Red V prodigy.

Amone lost the number six jersey after the 36-12 loss to Cronulla in Round 3 and has been riding the pine ever since and an arm injury to Jack Bird in the Anzac Day upset of the Roosters may have opened the door for one of the club's brightest young talents to return to the starting side.

Bird has been named to play against the Tigers on Sunday but will go for further scans during the week.

Should Bird withdraw, coach Anthony Griffin has several options at his disposal.

Moses Mbye could move to the halves with either Cody Ramsey or Tyrell Sloan to come in at fullback, or Jayden Sullivan could slot in at five-eighth.

But Amone shapes as the natural replacement should Bird not be passed fit.

Griffin copped plenty of heat for benching Amone and dropping fellow young gun Sloan given the duo are tipped to be the future of the joint venture.

But player development is not always a linear process. Regardless of when Amone does return to the starting side, he'll likely be a better player for it.

Plenty of young talents bounce in and out of sides as they find their feet at the top level, which is what St George Illawarra's senior players such as Ben Hunt and Andrew McCullough have helped Amone understand over the past month.

«I get people want Junior in the side for whatever reason, but you have to understand he's a young bloke and it's a long year. Being able to spread that year out properly, a lot of teams do it,» McCullough said.

«Birdy has been playing there for a particular reason.

»It comes back to opportunity.

«We're in Round 8, there's 18 or 19 rounds to go, there's a long time