Coaching in the NRL is always temporary and, without doubt, a bloody tough gig. We are only five rounds into the 2026 season, and the first body has already fallen through the trapdoor. Coming into Saturday night’s home game sitting 0-4, everyone at the Dragons knew the enormity of the moment. But when the whistle blew for full-time, the 32-0 loss against the Cowboys was just about the worst result anyone could have imagined.

Shane Flanagan sat in the post-match press conference afterwards and, for a second, the mask slipped. He put his head in his hands and simply apologised. It wasn’t a coach looking for a tactical out; it was the look of a man watching it all slip away. He didn’t offer excuses because, in this game, excuses just don’t matter. He had just watched Manly punt Anthony Seibold after an 0-3 start, proving that the “early season” grace period is dead.

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In this league, a contract extension isn’t security; like a divorce, it’s just a more expensive way to say goodbye. Flanagan was recently handed a deal through 2028, but as the fans booed his team off the park, that old, familiar fury returned to the St George faithful. It’s a fan base that hasn’t felt true, sustained joy since the Wayne Bennett years, and for the man sitting in the box, the fans make that frustration feel deeply personal.

After watching Kieran Foran jump from an assistant’s chair to a 52-point demolition at Manly in just four days, the Dragons’ board knows exactly how fast the appointment of a “favourite son” can provide a heartbeat. For Flanagan, the danger isn’t just the 0-5 record — it’s the two blokes sitting beside him. You’ve got Dean Young, who is the Red V personified, and Michael Ennis, a tactical brain. They are both head coaches in waiting.

Dragons hit record low as Cowboys star | 01:04

Flanagan talked before the game about getting momentum from his “big back five,” and he’s right — field position is king. After the game, he talked about finding the “Why.” But the fans don’t want the “Why” — they want the “How.”

The secret sauce in 2026 is the long-range try — the ability to “flip the script” when the momentum swings. The Dragons, however, are stuck in a yardage trap. Although they finished Saturday night completing at 87 per cent, they are not built to go the length of the field. Consider the benchmark: the Panthers have already scored nine tries from inside their own half this season. The Dragons haven’t scored one.

When they finally fight into the attacking zone, the gears grind to a halt. To score points now, you need a fast play-the-ball (PTB) to keep the defence from setting. The Dragons are currently the slowest in the league, averaging a sluggish 3.85-second ruck. That lack of speed leaves the halves playing in a phone box.

Luciano Leilua, Moses Suli, and Jaydn Su’A are damaging wrecking balls, but they aren’t 50-metre sprinters. To score, you need to get the footy to the people who can actually do something with it in the strike zone. Instead, these three are only averaging 1.2 touches each per game in the opposition 20. Right now, the Dragons are doing the hard work in the cow paddocks but coming up empty where it counts.

The final piece of the mess is the lack of threat from the 6 and 7. When your halves won’t take the line on in the strike zone to “sit” the defence, the defenders just slide and shut down your edges before the ball even arrives.

Shane Flanagan told the fans he wouldn’t sell a dream he couldn’t deliver, but at 0-5, that dream is becoming a recurring nightmare. The effort is there — Damien Cook is leading the league in tackles and Clint Gutherson was still clocking 170-metre shifts before his hamstring went — but effort without speed of play is just a measured way to lose.

To turn this around, they need to take chances and stop playing “safe.” But the players also need to find confidence through actions. They have to compete for every scrap of grass for 80 minutes — because right now, everyone’s job depends on it. The voice of the coach is being drowned out by a fan base that has run out of patience, and if the scoreboard doesn’t change fast, those “coaches in waiting” won’t be sitting in the assistant’s seats for much longer.