‘He insists it’s a gee-up’: Dragons come clean on burger celebration

The St George Illawarra Dragons have clarified an eyebrow raising post-try celebration after being forced to investigate.

The Dragons were forced to investigate and later clarify post-try celebrations by their players after a report claimed there were concerns it was being made in relation to Kyle Flanagan.

Flanagan’s place in the team has been a constant source of debate, to the extent that rival coach Ricky Stuart even leapt to his defence in the aftermath of the Raiders’ win over the Dragons.

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Now, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Danny Weidler reported on Sunday that an on-field gesture had led to allegations of a player-led bullying campaign at the club.

Weidler reported that sources close to the playing group told him that the ‘burger’ sign which some players made after scoring tries was meant to insinuate that someone is a ‘Derrick’.

Jack de Belin celebrates the try.

CEO Tim Watsford, however, denied that was the case in an interview with the Herald and said as much to The Daily Telegraph’s Brent Read, explaining it is a “term of endearment” and more of an inside joke that only the players themselves would understand.

Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield, meanwhile, said on NRL 360 that he spoke with Damien Cook’s agent, who then asked the Dragons hooker for more of an explanation.

“He insists, and he did one too, it’s an in-house gee-up thing,” Rothfield said.

If true, it would only add another layer to the Flanagan drama at the club, but NRL 360 co-host Braith Anasta said he found the claim “very hard to believe”.

Dragons players make the burger sign.

“Unless you’ve got solid evidence of that, because this is personal because it’s his teammates and suggesting he’s being visibly called a burger by his teammates on the field while they’re standing next to him and you’ve got no real evidence of that apart from hearsay,” Anasta said.

“We talk about being critical of players, and Kyle is no exception to that in terms of his performance, but this is different. This is personal. This is probably what Ricky Stuart was referring to. You’re going beyond criticism of performance.”

“It’s a horrific insinuation that teammates would do this sort of thing,” added Read.

Originally published as ‘He insists it’s a gee-up’: Dragons come clean on burger celebration