Shane Flanagan says the Dragons’ collapse on the field was the main reason he walked away last month, while the squeeze on Kyle Flanagan’s role also fed into a difficult call that came after a horror run of form.
Speaking on Triple M’s NRL Daily podcast on Monday, Flanagan said the results alone were enough to explain why he left St George Illawarra despite having re-signed with the club last year until the end of 2028. “That’s why I’m sitting here, really it is,” he said, before adding: “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 took over the joint venture in 2024, but pressure built as questions swirled over his coaching methods and his relationships with senior players, including Ben Hunt. The Dragons were struggling badly when he departed last month, and the coach said the changing makeup of the roster made life even harder. “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,” he said.
That sequence forced the club to rethink who could play where. Kyle Flanagan had been signed in September 2023, initially to be a utility off the bench, but instead found himself pushed into the halves. Shane Flanagan said that was never the original plan. “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.
The comments put fresh focus on the younger Flanagan’s standing at the club, a topic linked to the broader debate over how the Dragons rebuilt their spine through a season that never settled. Ben Hunt’s departure, Amone’s suspension and Sullivan’s move to the Wests Tigers left the side short of options, and Kyle Flanagan ended up carrying more of the playmaking load than first intended.
Even after Shane Flanagan’s exit, the roster picture continues to shift. Luke Metcalf and Scott Drinkwater have been signed by the club, and Flanagan said Drinkwater’s arrival changes the outlook around the halves. “Next year with Drinkwater coming there, that’s exciting for them,” he said. He also backed Kyle Flanagan to remain in the playmaking role next year, a nod to how much the team’s plan has changed since the original signing in September 2023.
The Dragons’ problem was never just one player or one month. It was the accumulation of losses, the loss of experienced figures and the strain of asking a utility to become a halfback in a side running out of answers. Flanagan’s comments suggest his departure was as much a response to what the club had become as to what it had failed to win.
