Dragons coach Shane Flanagan admits ‘fresh’ approach necessary to turn team around

As Shane Flanagan enters his third season at the helm of the Red V still seeking his first finals appearance, the coach has implored his team to play with freedom, taking aim at his sides attack.

St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan admits he, and son Kyle, needs to change their ways to bring the fire back to the Dragons next season.

Flanagan has begun this pre-season preaching to his squad to play with more freedom before admitting he had to alter his style of coaching.

This will be Flanagan’s third season at St George Illawarra having missed the finals the first two years, finishing 11th and 15th.

They only scored more points than the Wests Tigers, South Sydney and Newcastle.

“Taking more risks is something we will encourage this year. We score one more try per game and we’re in the top eight,” Flanagan said.

“If something is on then they need to be able to back themselves. We play a bit of eyes-up footy but we can sometimes be a bit conservative about completing our sets.”

Flanagan concedes it’s his fault.

Can Flanagan return the Dragons to glory?

“That probably comes from coaching. We, as coaches, need to take the shackles off a little bit but take the shackles off at the right time,” he said.

“And make sure the right people are doing it.

“The whole team needs to take and play with more risk but a calculated risk. A ‘controlled and practice risk’. We need to practice it at training with risk at a high-skill level.

“Maybe chance our arm.

“We’re not that far off and we had some really close games this year.”

Asked whether the club’s revised freedom meant he also had to change his coaching style, Flanagan said: “One-hundred per cent. We have to change from the top.

“I have to change the way I see and do things and the players have to change as well. I have to adapt every year, tweak, change things and change my approach to a few things.

“Sometimes you look back and say we could have done things differently so he’s my chance to do it differently.

Atkinson will hope to revitalise the Red V.

“That will keep me fresh and keep everyone else fresh. We have some changes in our coaching staff with (Mick) Ennis coming on board.”

St George Illawarra narrowly lost multiple games through 2025 and had to overcome an extensive injury list.

Sharks recruit Daniel Atkinson and five-eighth Kyle Flanagan will be given first opportunity to nail down halves spots during off-season training.

This year’s halfback, Lyhkan King-Togia, and young Kade Reed provide depth.

“Atkinson will get the first crack at seven,” Flanagan said.

“We will slot him in and see how the combination works with Kyle. Kyle has been good for the last two years and only missed a couple of games through suspension.

“But he probably needs to evolve his attacking game, play with a bit more risk and chance his arm a little bit more.

Flanagan says his son and five-eighth Kyle must improve his attack.

“We need to get the ball to where our strike is – Val Holmes, Moses Suli, Clint Gutherson, our outside backs. We need to get the ball to players in space.

“Kyle and Daniel are both really consistent footballers with good kicking games but we need to get more out of them offensively.

“Atkinson didn’t get much footy last year but the year before that he was involved in winning some games for the Sharks. He was a real point of difference.

“We have a good kid called Kade Reed so there will be some competition. Lyhkan had his first year in the NRL last season so he has to continue to improve.

“They are two really good young kids just behind Daniel and Kyle.”

Flanagan raved about the pre-season training efforts of Gutherson and Damien Cook, his two captains.

“‘Gutho’ has come back bigger, fitter, faster and stronger than ever,” Flanagan said.

“He was supposed to have another week off but has come back early. ‘Cookie’ has come back early too.”

Originally published as Dragons coach Shane Flanagan admits ‘fresh’ approach necessary to turn team around