Flanagan v Flanagan: father and son’s awkward faceoff

Shane Flanagan has been forced to piece together a plan to find chinks in a Roosters side that includes his son Kyle.

Shane Flanagan and son Kyle when the two were at the Sharks together. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

Shane Flanagan hasn’t exactly enjoyed the start to his week and helping St George Illawarra piece together a plan to find chinks in a Sydney Roosters side that includes his son Kyle.

“It’s not something I want to do,” Flanagan, the Dragons assistant, said.

“I am uncomfortable with it to tell you the truth. We are talking about (attacking) shape to our left and shape to our right — all I have in the back of my mind is that is Kyle’s side.

“It is not nice. We will get on with it. I have to make sure I do a good job for the Dragons and he will do a good job for the Roosters.

“We will see how we go. To everyone’s credit in the organisation, they haven’t singled him out or spoken a lot about him.

“We have to get our stuff right rather than worry about any of the Roosters players at the moment.”

What makes the situation even more difficult for the Flanagans is the pair’s living arrangements. Kyle still lives at the family home, meaning he and Shane couldn’t avoid each other if they tried.

“Yesterday wasn’t too bad — we were watching the other games and we didn’t talk about us,” Flanagan said. “The next few days are going to be tricky.”

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When Kyle Flanagan was exploring his options last season away from Cronulla — where he was stuck behind Shaun Johnson and Chad Townsend — his father was only too happy to see him land at the Roosters.

Shane and the Roosters have their own history. Flanagan spent two years as an assistant at the club alongside Ricky Stuart.

All these years later, he still has a relationship with Roosters supremo Nick Politis. Flanagan saw an opportunity for his son to grow as a player and Kyle has grabbed it with both hands.

The Roosters have strung together four consecutive wins and Kyle leads the NRL in pointscoring.

Roosters hafback Kyle Flanagan leads the NRL’s pointscoring list

“There was an opportunity open there with Cooper (Cronk) going,” Flanagan said.

“He probably would have sat behind Johnson and Chad a little bit (at the Sharks) and not got his opportunity.

“I think that would have been wrong to leave him there and not play regularly. The opportunity came at the Roosters to play regularly.

“I knew he was going to get good coaching and have really good players round him. It was a no-brainer for me.

“It was an easy decision to make. My association with the Roosters – I had a relationship with Nick (Politis), it has just worked out perfectly.

“He had to do it on the footy field and he is doing it and doing it well. It is early days in his career, it is exciting and good to watch.”

At least it has been this season. Friday night at Bankwest Stadium won’t be much fun.

“I will be glad when this weekend is over,” Flanagan said.

“He can get man of the match and the Dragons win by one. That would be nice.”