{"id":618211,"date":"2026-04-20T01:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618211\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T01:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:31:10","slug":"dragons-fire-head-coach-shane-flanagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618211\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragons fire head coach Shane Flanagan"},"content":{"rendered":"

St George Illawarra have confirmed that they have parted ways with head coach Shane Flanagan, as well as General Manager of Football Ben Haran, after the Dragons’ winless start to the NRL<\/a> season.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

Dragons CEO Tim Watsford said the decision had been made with the club’s future front of mind.<\/p>\n

“These are not decisions anyone makes lightly. Shane and Ben have both worked hard for the club, and on behalf of the Dragons, I want to thank them for their efforts, their professionalism, and their commitment during their time here,” Watsford said.<\/p>\n

Shane Flanagan is set to be fired as coach of St George Illawarra following the Dragons’ winless start to the NRL season.\u00a0Mark Metcalfe\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

“We wish them and their families all the best for the future.”<\/p>\n

Flanagan leaves the Dragons after discussions with the board resulted in he and Haran reaching a mutual agreement with the club.<\/p>\n

“I care deeply about this club and the playing group, and after discussions with the club, we agreed this was the right time for a change.<\/p>\n

“I’d like to thank the players, staff, members and fans for their support and I wish the club well for the future,” Flanagan said.<\/p>\n

The Dragons had already been on the longest losing streak in club history before Saturday’s 30-12 loss to South Sydney made it 11 defeats in a row.<\/p>\n

Flanagan’s axing comes less than nine months after the Dragons tied the 2016 premiership-winning coach to a new two-year contract extension. The Dragons won only one game after the extension was announced; his new contract was set to begin in 2027.<\/p>\n

Flanagan leaves with a 35% win rate, claiming 19 victories from 55 games since taking over for the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

The decision comes only five days before the club’s most important game of the regular season, the traditional Anzac Day clash with the Sydney Roosters.<\/p>\n

The club will not name an interim coach until after Tuesday’s board meeting.<\/p>\n

“We will undertake a thorough process regarding the future of the football department, including the appointment of a permanent NRL coach. We will do that carefully, efficiently, and with the long-term interests of the Dragons at the centre of every decision,” Watsford added.<\/p>\n

“Our focus now is on providing stability for the playing group and staff, supporting everyone through this transition, and ensuring the team is as prepared as possible for the weeks ahead, most notably this week’s Anzac round clash against the Roosters.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St George Illawarra have confirmed that they have parted ways with head coach Shane Flanagan, as well as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-618211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618211","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=618211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}