NRL 2024: Dragons coach Shane Flanagan confirms Ben Hunt, son Kyle as starting halves for Round 1

Ben Hunt will still don the Dragons No.7 jersey, but for the first time since 2019 he will be relieved of the organising duties, with coach Shane Flanagan confirming his halves combination for Round 1.

St George NRL head coach Shane Flanagan has revealed his first tactical change for 2024. Picture: Richard Dobson

Dragons captain Ben Hunt will be free to exploit his lethal running game by playing alongside an organising half for the first time since 2019.

That’s the view of St George-Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan who has declared Hunt and Kyle Flanagan will be the club’s round one halves pairing this season.

Originally signed for his ability to play hooker and in the halves, Flanagan has quickly become the Dragons problem-solver in their halves following the departure of Jayden Sullivan to the Wests Tigers and the deregistration of Junior Amone.

Flanagan, with 79 NRL games, is also an organising half, the playing style of which Hunt hasn’t played alongside since Gareth Widdop in 2019.

During his time at Saints, Hunt has played largely with running five-eighths including Corey Norman, Kurt Mann, Jack Bird or in the case of Adam Clune, Sullivan and Amone, rookie halves still learning their craft in the NRL.

But that is about to change, Flanagan says.

Ben Hunt will be free to exploit his running game in 2024, as he plays alongside an organising half for the first time since 2019. Picture: Getty Images

While Hunt will keep the No.7 on his back, he will have the ability to play like a running five-eighth.

“The halves partners that Benny has had over the last couple of years in Jayden Sullivan and Junior Amone have been running halves and still young for NRL,” Flanagan said.

“Ben hasn’t had that half that has bit of NRL experience in getting a team around the park, which frees Benny up to run.

“That’s one of Benny’s strengths, his running game.

“So now he doesn’t have to do the organisation and get to field positions that we want too, because Kyle can do that.

“That will let Benny just run. They’ve been a really good combination in pre-season and it’s made Benny alot more comfortable with his role in the team.

“Usually last tackle play for the Dragons is throw the ball to Ben, but now we don’t have to do that, so it’s taken a lot of pressure off him.

“Our complete structure has changed from relying on one main person.”

Shane Flanagan has confirmed son Kyle will line up alongside Hunt in the halves for Round 1. Picture: Dragons Media

Hunt said he’s excited by the opportunity to play to his strengths.

“Over the last few years, we’ve had more five-eighth, ball-runner type players that have played in the halves,” Hunt said.

“Where as Kyle is more of an organiser who can step-up and play halfback more, so it’s been good.

“The other good thing is that he’s got a really good kicking game, he can help balance us there as well.

“I’ll have the seven on my back, but we’ll be just interchangeable. That’s where our game is going and I’m pretty excited about it.

“Kyle is definitely a guy that can help take the load off and let me play more of a freestyle of footy.”

FLANAGAN REVEALS NEXT STEP IN RED-V REVOLUTION

Dragons coach Shane Flanagan is drawing on the learnings of his premiership win with the Sharks by testing the plan to possibly switch the positions of strike weapons Zac Lomax and Tyrell Sloan live during games.

The unorthodox tactic was used with success by Flanagan during his glory years at Cronulla when he would routinely swap Valentine Holmes between wing and fullback with Ben Barba.

Flanagan had also dabbled with the ploy in the seasons prior to the Sharks 2016 title win by alternating Michael Gordon from fullback to the wing for Barba.

Now Flanagan is trialling it through the Dragons current pre-season.

Declaring Lomax the club’s most dedicated trainer across the 2024 pre-season, Flanagan has handed the 24-year-old an opportunity to train at fullback following a syndesmosis injury suffered by Sloan last November.

Sloan has returned to full training with the NRL squad and has made no secret of his desire to make the Red-V no. 1 jersey his own for the club’s round one clash against the Titans on March 9.

St George NRL head coach Shane Flanagan (L) is still uncertain where he will deploy Jack Bird (R) in 2024. Picture: Richard Dobson

However, Flanagan sees value in upskilling Sloan’s footy IQ and overall feel for the game by rotating him between fullback, wing or centre, while for Lomax, the potential shift from the centres to fullback creates an increased opportunity of getting his hands on the ball.

The movement in the spine could also extend to representative player Jack Bird by playing at either centre or five-eighth.

“Zac has been training really well and interchanging between fullback and centre and doing a really good job,” Flanagan said.

“He’s as fit as, strong, and wins nearly everything with our testing.

“(Jack) Birdy will play No. 6 or No. 3, and he’s done a really good job there.

“I might do a bit of Sloan and Lomax swapping around a bit. I did it with Ben Barba and Michael Gordon, and Barba and Val Holmes.

Tyrell Sloan was the club’s first-choice fullback in 2023. Picture: Richard Dobson

“They’re practising that a bit at the moment. I’m not saying they are going to do it, but it’s an option.

“We did it with Val to get him to learn about footy and play a bit of fullback. It frees them up a bit.

“Sloany has some work to do defensively.

“As long as you don’t start confusing yourself, it [has merit]. It’s not a big swap. It would be done on changeovers and penalties. It’s not like you’re swapping positions during the run of play.

“But it could work at some point.”

Dragons captain Ben Hunt said he supported Flanagan’s experiment.

“I like it at the moment how they’re interchanging and learning different parts of the game and where they need to be,” Hunt said.

“They’ve both trained on the wing a bit as well.

“But the longer the pre-season goes, we need to lock it down, and that’s when you get your combinations together and really honing in on that.”

Zac Lomax has been training at fullback in the pre-season.

Excited and upbeat about his 2024 roster, Flanagan shook his head when asked if the peripheral noise about the prospects of St George-Illawarra had infiltrated the playing group.

“Not at all. We’ve had the most positive November, December, January within our training environment,” Flanagan said.

“We’re fitter, we’re stronger, we’re faster. Training has gone to another level so I’ve got every confidence that we’ll have a good season.

“We haven’t got a lot of elite rep players in our team, but I’ve got some really good players and they’ll do a really good job.

“They’ll play my style.

“You’ll see some things that you haven’t seen in a Dragons jersey before with the way we defend.

“Genuine Dragons supporters will see that from early on and get on board.”

Originally published as NRL 2024: Dragons coach Shane Flanagan confirms Ben Hunt, son Kyle as starting halves for Round 1