Valentine Holmes' 2025 season has hit a devastating roadblock, with reports from CODE Sports today who spoke to coach Shane Flannagan, that the star Dragons recruit has suffered a serious injury that will sideline him for the remainder of the year.
“We could’ve rolled the dice (and tried to play Holmes this year) which was heavily favoured against us,” Flanagan said. “He could have rehabbed and then in four to six weeks he gets another hit on it and it just stuffs up the start of our season up next year. It was one of those ones we had to get done now so he can have a bit pre-season.”
The Dragons centre suffered a torn rotator cuff in the final quarter of last round’s matchup against the Sydney Roosters and is now scheduled for surgery, followed by a lengthy rehabilitation period.
It’s a massive blow to both Holmes and the Dragons, who currently sit in 11th place on the NRL ladder and are still pushing for a finals berth with only a couple of months remaining in the regular season.
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Now, the club must adjust quickly without one of their marquee signings who only just finished playing for Queensland in another successful State of Origin campaign where he was the Dragons only representative player.
For Holmes, the timing couldn’t be worse. After a big-money move south to the Dragons in the off-season and a renewed focus on improving his game, the injury halts any momentum he was building in his new colours after a solid first season at the Dragons.
With Holmes out, the Dragons will likely need to reshuffle their centres and possibly call on depth options who haven’t seen much first-grade time this year.
It also increases the pressure on halves Kyle Flanagan and rookie Lyhkan King-Togia as well as the veteran leadership of Clint Gutherson and Damien Cook which will be relied upon even more with Holmes sidelined.
The injury rules him out of the end of season Ashes series and given his performance for Queensland he would have been a heavy favourite to make the squad.
This injury might not define Holmes’ Dragons tenure in the long term, but it certainly puts a dent in a 2025 campaign that was already teetering and likely sees the Dragons fall out of the finals race, which was already looking to be an uphill battle.
For now, the focus shifts to rehab and recovery—with Holmes targeting a full return in time for some of the 2026 pre-season.