The Dragons have been in the finals wilderness for a decade now and Sam Elwin is looking to build the club back up in his second year as captain-coach.

Temora have signed halfback Jarrod Lee and centre Blake Appo from Toowoomba club Highfields.

The pair are part of an aggressive approach as the Dragons strive to play finals for the first time since 2008.

With Rory Block already back with the club after winning two premierships with Farrer League club Marrar, Elwin hopes the new faces can provide a real impact.

“They’ve got a bit of work down here and will be joining us which will be very good,” Elwin said.

Appo scored 17 tries in 15 games last season and is expected to have a strong impact out wide for the Dragons while Lee is set to join Elwin in the halves.

While it is still early, Lee is expecting to take the number seven jersey with Elwin moving into five-eighth.

“I’ll probably play six and our halfback (Yoan Veve) will probably play lock or off the bench as hooker,” Elwin said.

“We aren’t too sure yet and it depends on how things go during pre-season.

“We might gel differently and end up in other positions but at this stage Rory Block will have fullback cemented.”

Elwin expects a third Toowoomba player to link with the club, but finalising a new forward is still a work in progress.

He hopes it will be a front rower.

The Dragons are also looking into having a number of Papua New Guinea players join after Elwin’s experience on the Country under 23s tour.

They are working through the visa applications but Elwin played against the forwards earlier this month.

He believes it’s an area the club needs to address.

“We’re really relying on these two front rowers from Papua New Guinea and they would really set our platform and after that I think we would be right,” Elwin said.

“I’ve learnt from last year not to get my hopes up as things fall through, but we will see how we go.”

Despite the Country side going down, Elwin revelled in his experience with the representative team in very different conditions to what he is used to.

“It was difficult, but it was a very good experience that’s for sure,” he said.

“They were too good for us.

“The conditions were just unbelievable – it was about 32 degrees and 100 per cent humidity – I couldn’t breath out there and have never played in anything like it.

“I think we only had four cracks at their line and scored twice but we were just defending the whole game.”

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