Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\nGolden point settles wild Easter clash | 07:22<\/p>\n
King-Togia looked like a potential future star last year, but has barely fired a shot in 2026 in limited opportunities. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone can see he\u2019s gone backwards,\u201d The Daily Telegraph\u2019s Brent Read said of King-Togia. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people thought he was talented. Flanno obviously thought he was talented.\u201d <\/p>\n
Anasta interjected: \u201cDo you lose that in a few months? No, you lose your confidence and he\u2019s lost his confidence badly.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Daily Telegraph\u2019s Dean Ritchie believes Atkinson has been thrown to the wolves in the No.7 hot seat behind a struggling pack. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been poor, but he\u2019s been playing out of position, he\u2019s in a new system and he\u2019s a young kid,\u201d Ritchie said. <\/p>\n
Benji breaks down Golden Point win | 07:22<\/p>\n
However, Anasta pointed out that Flanagan deserves some of the blame for buying him to play a key position that he doesn\u2019t have much experience in at NRL level. <\/p>\n
\u201cWho bought him?\u201d Anasta said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWho played him out of position? Who bought him as a halfback when he is a running five-eighth and the whole of the NRL knew that?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re just saying, let\u2019s pick on Shane. This is through results. It\u2019s through him selecting players, through buying senior players that your saying aren\u2019t standing up, from buying a five-eighth that your saying is a halfback. The list goes on. So there\u2019s poor decisions being made here.\u201d <\/p>\n
Atkinson is set to move to No.6, with Kyle Flanagan returning at halfback in Round 6, which Read feels will better suit the balance of the side. <\/p>\n
\u201cI actually like the fact he\u2019s considering moving Daniel Atkinson to No.6,\u201d Read said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the smartest move he\u2019s made in quite some time. Obviously, it depends whether Kyle\u2019s available and Kyle will come straight back in at No.7. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ve got to say, in terms of Atkinson, he\u2019s under a lot of pressure it seems at the moment and I think it\u2019s really unfair on him because he is not a No.7. <\/p>\n
Madden ices it in golden point | 00:38<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s never been a No.7. He\u2019s been a No.6. A lot of people think he\u2019s a No.1. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not a No.7. So, people are having a go at him for not being able to lead the team around the park. Why do they expect him to be able to do it? <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy can\u2019t Kyle do it? I don\u2019t understand why Kyle hasn\u2019t played that role earlier in the year. He\u2019s played No.7 before. Daniel Atkinson hasn\u2019t played No.7. They shoved him in No.7, and said he was short-term.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ritchie agreed moving Atkinson to No.6 will be much better for his game and the team\u2019s attack. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a good move in terms of, I think Atkinson is a No.6,\u201d Ritchie said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey can free him up a bit more. He\u2019s a running player. And I think that\u2019s the position and the role he would have liked to have played when they brought him to the club. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy he was playing No.7 is up to Shane. I don\u2019t know the exact reasons. But I think swapping them gives them a little bit more potency.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tigers youngster sin binned! | 00:45<\/p>\n
However, Read warned that moving the same players around to different positions may not have the effect Flanagan and the Dragons are hoping for. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like it is shuffling deckchair\u2019s not on the Titanic, that\u2019s what it feels like,\u201d Read said.<\/p>\n
\u201cKing-Togia wasn\u2019t great. Sloan plays fullback this week. They haven\u2019t wanted to play Sloan fullback for how long now? I mean, he hasn\u2019t even been in the team Tyrell Sloan, so it just feels like they\u2019re moving the pieces around. Jacob Liddle will start this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like this ship\u2019s sinking and you can move the chairs around, but you ain\u2019t plugging the holes.\u201d <\/p>\n
Panel argue over controversial calls | 04:49<\/p>\n
Another option would be to bring in rookie Kade Reed at halfback, but Read and Anasta feel that would be brutal on the young playmaker amid the club\u2019s losing streak. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt sound like they are not going to play Kade Reed, which I am glad because it is a bit like Joey Walsh, I don\u2019t think you can shove a kid like that into a side that is labouring like they are,\u201d Read said. <\/p>\n
Anasta added: \u201cIt\u2019s not the right time. I love that kid and I reckon he is going to be a superstar, but throwing him in there now. Just no, give him some time.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane Flanagan has been criticised for hurting the confidence of his halves as the Dragons were accused of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[288285,64,63,9421,18194,197883,288297,4437,28814,13774,37304,37293,288300,288298,263596,4533,21384,4590,29043,130147,5332,288299,4746,761,762,158,9112,68999,17989,4583,85,4563,11737,245689,288022,4515,35829],"class_list":{"0":"post-590259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-absolute-thriller","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-benji-marshall","12":"tag-braith-anasta","13":"tag-cap-squeeze","14":"tag-daniel-ackinson","15":"tag-daniel-atkinson","16":"tag-dean-ritchie","17":"tag-football-team","18":"tag-golden-point","19":"tag-golden-point-period","20":"tag-growing-playmaker-crisis","21":"tag-halves-confidence-crisis","22":"tag-halves-options","23":"tag-jacob-liddle","24":"tag-jock-madden","25":"tag-joey-walsh","26":"tag-jonah-glover","27":"tag-lachlan-ilias","28":"tag-losing-streak","29":"tag-lost-confidence","30":"tag-mark-st-john","31":"tag-national-rugby-league","32":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","33":"tag-nrl","34":"tag-parramatta-eels","35":"tag-rivals-circle","36":"tag-senior-players","37":"tag-shane-flanagan","38":"tag-sports","39":"tag-st-george-illawarra-dragons","40":"tag-team-tips","41":"tag-tigers-youngster","42":"tag-tigers-youngster-sin","43":"tag-wests-tigers","44":"tag-young-playmaker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590259","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=590259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n