St George Illawarra's re-signing drive has continued with the NRL club locking up highly rated young prop Trent Merrin for a further two years.

Merrin, who has been the Dragons' under-20s player of the year for the past two seasons, will remain at the club until the end of 2012.

The 21-year-old Illawarra junior will make his run-on debut as the replacement for NSW rep Michael Weyman against Canberra at WIN Stadium on Sunday.

His signing comes on the back of Weyman, Matt Prior, Beau Scott and Jamie Soward all signing deals this year.

It also comes as the Dragons look to lure back former captain Mark Gasnier on a back-ended deal that would see him play for minimum wages and match payments for the rest of this season.

"I love it here and I'm looking forward to developing my game under (coach) Wayne (Bennett)," Merrin said.

"It's a great place to play and it's one big family.

"I've grown up playing for the Steelers and idolising the boys that I now get to play with, so I always knew I'd stay at the Dragons."

Merrin made his first grade debut in 2009 before being named in the Toyota Cup's team of the year.

Graduating to become a full-time member of the first grade squad, he has played seven NRL games in 2010 and scored two tries.

"Like a number of our young players here at the Dragons, Trent has an extremely bright future and we're very pleased he has decided to stay with us," Bennett said.

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