Roosters rookie Kyle Flanagan quick to kick his way to a ton of points
Years spent playing junior soccer and the personal kicking tee of rugby league’s greatest sharpshooter has elevated Roosters’ pointscoring machine Kyle Flanagan into the history books.
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Years spent playing junior soccer and the personal kicking tee of rugby league’s greatest sharpshooter has elevated Kyle Flanagan into the history books.
In a stunning endorsement for the 21-year-old’s composure and diligence in his rookie year, Flanagan has become the second-fastest player of all-time, and equal-quickest with Roosters legend Mike Eden, to score more than 100 points in a season.
Flanagan’s 102 points in just nine games at the Roosters sees him second only to Canterbury points wizard Daryl Halligan who remains the quickest (eight matches) in the code’s 112-year history to reach 100 points.
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“I wish I could‘ve done it one game quicker, so I could be sitting with Halligan,’’ Flanagan quipped.
In only his first season as starting halfback at the Roosters, Flanagan is an extraordinary 30 points clear on top of the NRL leading point scorers table with a total of 102 points.
South Sydney’s premiership-winning halfback Adam Reynolds is a distant second with 72 points. And ironically, it’s been aided by Halligan’s one-on-one tutorials and the personal delivery of his trademark kicking tees that Flanagan has been using to land almost 80 per cent of his goals so far this season.
“The old man (Shane Flanagan) got him (Halligan) in at Cronulla and so I did a few sessions with him through my under-18s and under-20s days,” Flanagan said.
“He’s stayed in touch with me and this year he’s been sending me his own personally designed tees, which is the SuperTee.
“He sends me a box that I use. Me and Cameron Smith are the only ones that use those ones and I’m certainly enjoying using them.’’
Flanagan’s focus on support play has also allowed him to pick-up four tries in nine games.
He also explained how Saturday mornings spent on the soccer ovals of Bangor in the Sutherland Shire as a junior has instilled him with the habit and lethal technique to strike the ball.
“JT (Johnathan Thurston) was asking me the other night why I kicked the ball so slow, and I wish I had told him it was to do with my soccer background,” Flanagan said.
“I was a midfield, attacking striker and it’s that head down, over the ball motion, that soccer promotes, which has stayed with me.
“I played from under-6’s until under-14’s with Bangor and then rep soccer with Sutherland Sharks, it’s absolutely been a big part of the way I keep the ball low and straight.
“You have to keep working on it too. Jason Taylor comes down every training session and we do 10 kicks every session, minimum.
“The ones on the sideline, there’s not much pressure because no one expects you to get them.
“I focus on the ones that you are expected to get, just adjacent to the posts.
“Head down, follow through, is what I tell myself before every kick.”
If there’s one thing fans need to know about Flanagan, the records and the dream start to his NRL career won’t go to his head.
“The biggest thing for me is, I just want to keep getting wins each week for the team and keep building my game,‘’ Flanagan said. “I‘m happy with the way I’ve been able to bounce back after our first two losses of the season, but there’s still a long way to go.’’