{"id":511592,"date":"2026-03-01T10:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511592\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T10:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:38:09","slug":"shane-flanagan-fumes-at-referees-in-press-conference-video-bulldogs-vs-dragons-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511592\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Flanagan fumes at referees in press conference, video, Bulldogs vs Dragons highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has teed off at the refereeing in Sunday\u2019s controversial loss to the Bulldogs<\/a>, declaring the game was \u201cnot decided in the right way\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Having entered the game as rank outsiders, the Red V fell just short in golden point after the Bulldogs were gifted strong field position courtesy of a strip penalty ruled against the Dragons.<\/p>\n

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That was not the only decision Flanagan took issue with, however, with the Dragons coach telling reporters after the 15-14 loss that there \u201csix or seven\u201d calls he did not agree with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe effort and attitude was outstanding and credit to the Bulldogs they got the field goal right but I felt that maybe a draw was probably the right decision today,\u201d Flanagan said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tricky one because I think the NRL\u2019s done an outstanding job. The week\u2019s just been fantastic. Every promotion we\u2019ve had to do, the Fremont Street and everything and then the game just decided like that. It\u2019s disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was clear that Flanagan\u2019s frustration was only exacerbated by the fact his team had defended so valiantly, with the Bulldogs having 41 tackles in the Dragon\u2019s 20 compared to just nine for the Red V. <\/p>\n

When asked specifically about the decision to penalise Ryan Couchman for stripping the ball from Bronson Xerri, Flanagan didn\u2019t hold back.<\/p>\n

Clutch Crichton breaks Dragons’ hearts! | 00:51<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a loose carry every day of the week, without a doubt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s that, there\u2019s a lot of others as well. We didn\u2019t get the rub of the green, that\u2019s for sure. As I said, just disappointing but it wasn\u2019t decided in my view the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a couple of others that went to the bunker that I thought were strange to put it that way,\u201d he later added.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to find a nice word about it. But we didn\u2019t get the rub of the green in those decisions so whether we got it in the last 30 seconds, I\u2019m not quite sure. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just reiterate, the game has been put on a real high pedestal and I just thought tonight it shouldn\u2019t have been decided the way it was. The NRL\u2019s done a great job, our club\u2019s done a great job. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans will decide. Good luck to the Bulldogs, they were good enough to win and kick the field goal. That\u2019s a skill but I think we should have gone home (with) one point each.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Heartbreaking to lose like that’ | 02:00<\/p>\n

Dragons hooker Damien Cook didn\u2019t want to give too much away when asked for his take on the Couchman call, telling reporters he is \u201calways going to have a biased opinion\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you guys all watched it, all the fans watched it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

If Flanagan was frustrated, he will have support from Cowboys coach Todd Payten after he called out double standards<\/a> in the earlier Las Vegas game.<\/p>\n

When a journalist brought it up, referencing another moment where Stephen Crichton was not sin-binned for a high shot on a falling Setu Tu despite Braidon Burns being binned in the earlier game, Flanagan found another sympathetic ear.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n

Crichton lucky to avoid the bin? | 00:33<\/p>\n

\u201cMate, can you just write your words that you just said and put my name underneath it because I\u2019m exactly the same,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike seriously, come on. There was another one there that Setu Tu was running back to the ball, they kicked it in behind and he\u2019s running back towards the ball, Kikau pushes him in the back and they get a penalty. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeriously mate, there was about six or seven on them. I\u2019m disappointed. But you\u2019re 100 per cent right with what you just said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bulldogs take out Golden Point thriller | 03:37<\/p>\n

Flanagan made headlines earlier in the week when he made the honest admission that his team, who are in the early stages of a rebuild, can\u2019t win the competition this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Sunday\u2019s result may not have changed his or other\u2019s opinions, it did prove that this is a squad with plenty of mettle and the Dragons coach had a clear message in his press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a good footy team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I said, I think in hindsight I probably shouldn\u2019t have said it, but flip the coin over, if I say that we\u2019re going to win the comp, there\u2019s going to be as much criticism as probably more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a good football team. Our club\u2019s on the way up. We\u2019re ready to go and we\u2019re going to compete this year. We\u2019re going to be better next year and better the year after. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a big club and we\u2019re on the improve. So look out, jump on board or get off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has teed off at the refereeing in Sunday\u2019s controversial loss to the Bulldogs, declaring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-511592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511592","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=511592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}