![\"Canterbury](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8fb1769e3451139f0f6bfa2ea4c7350281629ab4.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got a good football team,\u201d Flanagan said. \u201cOur club is on the way up, we\u2019re ready go, and we\u2019re going to compete this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be better next year and better the year after. We\u2019re a big club and we\u2019re on the improve, so look out. Jump on board, or get off.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Canterbury celebrate the winning field goal by Stephen Crichton (centre).Credit: AP<\/p>\n
New Dragons halfback Daniel Atkinson was solid rather than spectacular in his first appearance for the club since his move from Cronulla.<\/p>\n
It was also a night to remember for mature-age debutant Setu Tu, with the 27-year-old winger crossing for a late four-pointer that set up a compelling climax.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to put too much pressure on him,\u201d Flanagan said of Atkinson. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t played a lot of games at halfback in the NRL and for 80 minutes, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he did a good job. His kicking was great, he competed really hard and he\u2019ll get better week in and week out.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Setu](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ba527e9a8875f7dd499926bf0494457572150acb.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Setu Tu\u2019s try set up a grandstand finish.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Flanagan had his contract extended in August, securing his position at the Dragons until at least the end of 2028.<\/p>\n
If that was a vote of confidence in the 60-year-old\u2019s long-term vision for the joint-venture club, the forecast has been for choppy waters in the immediate future.<\/p>\n
A depleted St George Illawarra won only one of their final five games last year following the coach\u2019s re-signing and conceded 40 points in each of the last three.<\/p>\n
Forgettable pre-season trial form reduced expectations further and even Flanagan himself was careful not to set the bar too high, at least publicly, with an attention-grabbing prediction in the days before the first-round blockbuster.<\/p>\n
Acknowledging his team wouldn\u2019t be premiership contenders this year was honest but unorthodox and risked blowing up in his face if the Dragons were thrashed in their first outing of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn hindsight I probably shouldn\u2019t have said it,\u201d Flanagan said. \u201cBut if I say we\u2019re going to win the comp, there is going to be as much criticism, probably more.\u201d<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t matter in the end, with the Dragons playing like anything but no hopers.<\/p>\n
With stubbornness on their goal line, they crowded the Lachie Galvin-led Bulldogs for much of the first half, trailing by only two points at the break.<\/p>\n
Aside from a new trick from old dog Damien Cook, rolling a kick into the in-goal for front-rower Emre Guler to score, it wasn\u2019t pretty, but Flanagan won\u2019t have cared.<\/p>\n
What wouldn\u2019t have pleased him were a series of mistakes and penalties that loosened the Dragons\u2019 early grip on proceedings.<\/p>\n
St George Illawarra\u2019s spirit was personified by Toby and Ryan Couchman\u2019s wild celebration after thumping Sitili Tupouniua close to his line and busting the ball free. The only problem was that Toby had struck the former Roosters forward high.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
The Dragons shot themselves in the foot after half-time, with Bulldogs talisman Stephen Crichton seizing on another error to extend Canterbury\u2019s lead to six with a delicious flick to winger Jacob Kiraz to cross in the corner.<\/p>\n
Barely sighted near the Bulldogs try line for the first hour, the Dragons seemed destined to tire, but refused to fold.<\/p>\n
Tu closed the gap with 22 minutes remaining, capitalising on a fine offload from Jaydn Su\u2019A and an even better tap-on from Clint Gutherson.<\/p>\n
A Kyle Flanagan penalty goal with six minutes left brought the Dragons level, and their fans began to believe.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, for them, it wasn\u2019t to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ve got a good football team,\u201d Flanagan said. \u201cOur club is on the way up, we\u2019re ready go,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-511527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}