NRL Coaching Q&A: Winning not the only measure of Shane Flanagan’s success at the Dragons
New St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan talks to MICHAEL CARAYANNIS about his plans for the club, and expectations of stars Zac Lomax and Ben Hunt.
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Shane Flanagan will coach his first NRL game since being deregistered in 2018.
He sits down with Michael Carayannis ahead of his coaching return and reveals what he has learned during his time away and what his hopes are for St George Illawarra 2024.
MICHAEL CARAYANNIS: Why the Dragons, why were they right fit for you?
SHANE FLANAGAN: Just with the time of my life. Where I have been. I was at the Sharks for eight years and had some success there. I was disappointed I had to leave but that’s happened and I have learnt to live with that and get over it. I had a really enjoyable year last season at Manly with Anthony Seibold and the team. I really liked working with that group of players. There were some elite players who were a pleasure to work with. Some of the young kids were really good.
When the Dragons job came up I was excited about it given my history here. I was a junior and played all my junior footy for the Dragons. I thought it was a good fit. I’ve been at the club in a couple of different roles in the last couple of years. I did a bit of list management for six to eight months and helped Mary (former coach Paul McGregor) for 12 months. I thought it was a good fit. I have a good knowledge of the players and the set-up between Sydney and Wollongong. I know the strength and weaknesses of both areas. I haven’t gone in there without a good history and background of what needs to stay the same and what needs to change.
MC: How are you a different coach from the last time you were a head coach?
SF: I am a lot more mature with how I do things. I was bullish and reactive but I was a young coach who wanted to win. I don’t want to lose all that to an extent. Winning from a coach’s perspective is almost everything but there are other bits that go with it that I’ve learnt. It’s about development, looking after your club, governance and setting your club up for long-term success. But when you look in the rear vision mirror you need to be winning games too.
It’s OK to set up all these pathways and set the club up well and have a plan but the NRL side has got to win. That’s not going to be easy next season but I will make sure we are on that road. I need to get the players on that journey because they haven’t been the last couple of years. A lot of coach changes, philosophy and what they need to do as players and staff. I’d like to think we’re all on the same page. It’s a massive club and I need to get it back to being the big brother against the Sharks.
MC: Did you think your time as an NRL coach was done?
SF: No, never because that’s what I thought I do well and I enjoy it. There are some days that you wonder why you do it but for me those days are few and far between. Most of the time I love my job, I love working with young men and athletes and seeing staff and players grow within your organisation. And I love the game. That’s the most important thing. I never thought my time was up.
MC: From the outside looking in. How have the Dragons been perceived in recent years?
SF: Underachievers. There is some good talent there. For a big club they have gone backwards in some areas and have been pushed around and bullied a little bit on and off the field. I’ll be making sure we don’t get pushed around on or off the field.
We will get back to being that big club. We go from way down on the south coast to out west and all the way to the airport. We have fans all around the country and around the world. It is a big club. When I was growing up, the Red V and the Dragons were the biggest club. Even to when I started playing here, we had three grades playing in the grand final (in 1985). We were a big club but now we are even bigger because we are St George Illawarra. That is what excites me.
MC: You’ve mentioned the fans, I am sure they have been stopping you in the street. What is the first thing they say to you?
SF: Good luck. They know it’s a big job. Dragons fans have to understand, it’s going to be a journey. It’s not a long journey – it won’t be a five-year plan — but within two years we will be back on track. My plan is to get us back on track in 2024 but we will have days that are tough. The fans will be proud of what they see. Some days we will try hard and not win and that should keep me reasonably happy. In the end it’s about winning footy games. It will be a journey but we will get there quickly.
MC: What’s the biggest challenge with this playing group?
SF: Getting them back into systems. Especially defensively. We’ve been loose in that area. Sides have run in tries consistently in that area. From looking with an educated eye, it’s been hard to see what they have been trying to do defensively. It’s a big job but I am confident that I have a group of players to get the job done.
MC: One of your first appointments was Dean Young onto your coaching staff. He wanted the top job. How did you navigate that and why Dean?
SF: He is loyal. He is passionate about the club. He wants to coach in the NRL and I am comfortable with that. There are a lot of second grade coaches who want to be first grade coaches but they need to do it for 10 or 12 years. If you jump into that head coaching arena at 40 and you coach for two years then your coaching career is over at 42. You still have a lot of work years left in your life and you’ve basically pigeonholed yourself to be an assistant coach for the rest of your life. They need to make sure assistant coaches are ready and they aren’t too young. They’ve been with a couple of head coaches and seen the good and bad times. Without doubt Dean will be ready in time. My message to him is to be patient and his time will come.
MC: What’s a realistic expectation of this group next season?
SF: I want to challenge for the eight. When we broke down last season there were a lot of games that if we kick goals we win, especially early in the year. We have to turn a couple of tight results around and get some confidence and we will push for semi finals. We want to compete right until the end. You don’t want to be halfway through thinking you need to win every game because it’s not feasible. We have to be in the competition right until the end.
MC: When the Dragons have been at their best they’ve been filled with junior players. Do you see the Dragons as a development club?
SF: I do. We saw two last season in Ryan and Toby Couchman. They probably played maybe a little too many games and got fatigued but they are an example of what’s there. There are probably six or seven underneath them who are similar. In the next two or three years we will see some really exciting players. Hamish Stewart, Dylan Egan, Savelio Tamale. There are some exciting kids. I’m looking forward to them coming through.
MC: Specifically from the current squad, who do you need to get more out of?
SF: Zac Lomax can go to another level and he is open to change. He has been good at adapting to a different style of football I want him to play.
MC: When you say that, what do you mean by a different style of football for Zac?
SF: It’s technical. He doesn’t do enough work before he gets the football. He is standing still and holds his width rather than coming in field and getting moving onto the football. A lot of good centres, it’s what they do before they get the ball rather than once they get the ball. Zac gets the ball and sometimes he is standing still. He is big, strong and fast. In this game standing still is what opposition centres want him to do. If he can be running onto the football and using his strengths he will be a dangerous footy player.
I think Jaydn Su’A has a lot more footy in him so too does Moses Suli. He is a big strong athlete. He doesn’t get the footy enough and doesn’t work hard enough. Tyrell Sloan, I just want to coach him. You can’t coach his talent. I need to coach him in other areas. Obviously defensively. He isn’t a soft kid but he needs to get his head in and make try-saving tackles. He needs to put his focus into defence and he probably hasn’t had to before because in the junior grades he was so brilliant in attack. Those four players are probably my key.
MC: Ben Hunt has reaffirmed his commitment for 2024, but will he be at the club in 2025?
SF: I’ve always said to Ben to come and see the changes and the way we are going to play. If he was still adamant that he wanted to go we’d think about it. But only if we had a player we could recruit or one in the system pops up. But I am not going to allow Ben to just get another contract somewhere else which will be to the detriment of our club. He knows that but he is excited about the changes.
MC: What are the biggest changes the players experienced at training?
SF: The way we warm up. The way we prepare. Our training has changed completely. What they did on the field was a lot more longer running. Now we are about speed and power. We extended the gym. The club spent a lot of money extending the gym and building a players recreation room. They are little things like recarpeting areas and new gym equipment. They spent millions of dollars fixing up the facility at WIN Stadium knowing our high performance centre is about to start being built. They aren’t sitting back waiting and saying in two years time we will put the pedal down.
MC: How important has it been to reconnect to the St George region?
SF: It’s so important. The people in the area that I get around to want the team back in the area. And the boys want to be here too. They enjoy training and playing at Kogarah. We’ve trained at Rockdale and went for a swim at Brighton. That’s in our community. We will do a lot more school visits. We want to expose it more to the boys because a lot of them have lived on the south coast and come into grade and think they the St George Illawarra Dragons are just in Wollongong but we are a big club. I need to expose them to all that.
MC: If you had to identify the areas where the squad needed to improve in 2025 and 2026, where would you look at?
SF: I’d like to see the development of some of our young forwards. We’ve got some hookers but we might go to the market and buy a marquee hooker. We will give Jacob Liddle, Connor Muhleisen and maybe even Kyle (Flanagan) an opportunity first to grab that No. 9 jersey. Then the next step is the transition from where to go after Ben. Is Ben there for 2025? Who is our halfback or five-eighth. We need to look at that now. That’s about planning so that the club is in good shape. We are planning now for 2025 and 2026. Every side needs three or four Origin-type players in your side to really compete. At the moment the club has one. I know what it looks like, I just have to get it to happen.
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