NRL 2022: Nathan Brown emerges as shock contender for Dragons job

More than a decade after being shown the door by St George Illawarra, Nathan Brown is on the verge of a surprise move back to the joint-venture club.

Nathan Brown has emerged as the prime candidate to take over Shane Flanagan’s head of recruitment role at the Dragons.

Former St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown has emerged as the prime candidate to take over Shane Flanagan’s head of recruitment role at the Dragons.

It comes after Flanagan was offered one of Anthony Seibold’s assistant coaching positions at Manly.

Sources at the Dragons claim Flanagan has not yet officially accepted Manly’s offer (as of Tuesday lunchtime), although that appears a formality.

That means that finding a new head of recruitment now becomes a priority for the Dragons.

Flanagan’s role is specifically labelled the top 30 list management consultant, but in a nutshell that means head of recruitment.

For that reason the Dragons job would appear perfectly suited to a person with Brown’s experience and contacts within the game.

The major issue is Brown recently accepted an ongoing role at Parramatta after doing a review into the Eels’ pathways program.

Nathan Brown is set for a surprise return to St George Illawarra.

Brown had previously spoken to the Dragons before starting work at the Eels, but at that point there was no suitable position for him.

But Flanagan’s pending departure has now opened a door.

Brown could not be contacted but it’s no secret he still has plenty close bonds with influential figures at the Dragons, and his name will be at the top of the list when the hunt to replace Flanagan officially commences.

Brown had previously stood down as Warriors coach this season.

At the time Brown said that his days as an NRL head coach were done, but he conceded he was wanting to move into another area in club land.

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Nathan Brown stood down as Warriors coach earlier this year.

Brown had an outstanding career as a player for St George and coached the joint venture for 151 games between 2003 and 2008.

Brown will forever be remembered for the day he famously face slapped Trent Barrett during a sideline pep talk in his early days coaching.

But he also had a better than average record coaching the club, winning 53 per cent of his games before he was moved on to make way for Wayne Bennett’s arrival.

Brown then took on a job in the Super League at Huddersfield before having success at St Helens.

Nathan Brown had an outstanding playing career with the Dragons.

He then returned to the NRL coaching Newcastle and the Warriors with limited success.

But what can’t be questioned is that Brown has built an outstanding reputation throughout game and is widely regarded as one of the champion blokes.

And that’s why he would be well suited to a role in recruitment.

It remains to be seen how he would potentially work alongside Anthony Griffin who is coming under increasing pressure by the day.

What would help is the fact Brown appears to have no desire to be a head coach again, so Griffin should not feel pressure if Brown’s name comes up in conversation.

The Dragons management have backed Griffin so far but fractures within the playing group continue to cause angst.

Nathan Brown chats to Dragons coach Anthony Griffin earlier this year. Picture: Getty Images

The trouble with replacing Griffin at this point is coming up with a suitable replacement given the lack of experienced coaches on the market.

Des Hasler is one option.

Flanagan has apparently assured Manly that if he takes the job he will stay as Seibold’s assistant for at least a year, while Michael Maguire has given Canberra a similar assurance after taking on a role as Ricky Stuart’s defence coach.

The best of the young coaches coming through are former Dragons players Jason Ryles, Dean Young and Ben Hornby.

Any one of them would be a good fit if the Dragons decide to move on Griffin in the coming months, although all are currently employed as assistants at rival clubs.