Shane Flanagan has linked his exit from St George Illawarra to the pressure that built around Kyle Flanagan, saying the noise around his son formed part of the reason he walked away last month. Speaking on Triple M's NRL Daily podcast on Monday, Flanagan said the poor results were the main factor, but the debate over Kyle also helped drive the decision.
"That's why I'm sitting here, really it is," Flanagan said, after reflecting on the end of his time at the club.
St George Illawarra were already in a horror run of form when Flanagan departed, despite him having re-signed last year through to the end of 2028. He took over the joint venture in 2024, but questions about his methods and his relationships with senior players, including Ben Hunt, had been hanging over the campaign before his exit.
The same scrutiny followed Kyle Flanagan, who was signed in September 2023. The club brought him in to fill a bench role, with the intention that he would be a 14, but the shape of the squad changed sharply when Hunt left, Junior Amone was suspended and Jayden Sullivan moved to the Wests Tigers. Kyle Flanagan ended up in the halves instead.
"There were some other things that made my decision. Not winning footy games was the main one, but obviously the Kyle thing came into it," Flanagan said.
He said the original plan had been straightforward. "It's tough, but at the time when Kyle came to the club, Ben Hunt was halfback and we had Junior Amone and Jayden Sullivan - we bought Kyle to come there to be that 14," he said.
When that plan collapsed, the coaching staff had little choice. "Then unfortunately, Ben Hunt left, Junior Amone got suspended and Jayden Sullivan went to the Wests Tigers, we didn't predict all those types of things happening," Flanagan said.
He also defended the way Kyle Flanagan had been used, arguing the best fit left available was in the spine. "Kyle has been put in that position to play in the halves and for me, he was the best halfback at the club. He competes really hard, he's not that creative - we know that," he said.
That assessment matters because it points to the crossroads ahead for St George Illawarra. Flanagan backed Kyle Flanagan to stay in the playmaking role next year, even as Luke Metcalf and Scott Drinkwater are set to arrive in 2026.
"Next year with Drinkwater coming there, that's exciting for them," he said.
The tension around the Dragons was never only about results. It was also about whether the roster built for one plan could still work after the club lost the players around whom that plan had been drawn. Flanagan's comments suggest the answer, at least in his view, was no.
For St George Illawarra, the bigger question now is not why the season unravelled, but how quickly it can reset after a year in which even the role of a player signed to be a bench option became part of the explanation for a coach's departure.
