New assistant coach Shane Flanagan tasked with fixing leaky Dragons defence
Former Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan has joined the Dragons, and the premiership-winning mentor is going to need all his wiles to achieve the ambitious goal set for him.
NRL
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The worse-kept secret in the NRL has finally been made public.
Shane Flanagan’s assistant coaching role at St George-Illawarra will be formally announced by the club on Wednesday.
The former premiership-winning coach of Cronulla will be charged with working alongside head coach Paul McGregor with a focus on fixing the second-worst defensive side of 2019.
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Only the Gold Coast leaked more points than the Dragons this year.
Flanagan’s contract with the Red-V is for the 2020 season only.
The NRL has cleared Flanagan to return to the game but he won’t be eligible for a head coaching role before 2022 after breaching the terms of his 2014 suspension.
However, under the terms of his return, Flanagan won’t be allowed to attend Dragons training sessions until December 18 – which is seen as effectively a year-long suspension by the NRL.
The Dragons will also announce on Wednesday that Matt Head will remain on as head coach of the NSW Canterbury Cup side – despite suggestions he was moving on in 2020.
Originally published as New assistant coach Shane Flanagan tasked with fixing leaky Dragons defence