{"id":618360,"date":"2026-04-20T03:17:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T03:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618360\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T03:17:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T03:17:20","slug":"nrl-2026-shane-flanagan-sacked-as-dragons-coach-and-head-of-football-removed-after-horror-11-game-losing-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618360\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Shane Flanagan sacked as Dragons coach and head of football removed after horror 11-game losing streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shane Flanagan has been sacked by the Dragons on the back of a disastrous 11-game losing streak, unsurprising to most of the NRL world, yet blindsiding the St George playing group as they arrived at training on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

But he wasn\u2019t the only one to pay the price, with the club\u2019s head of football, Ben Haran, is also leaving the club, St George Illawarra confirmed in a statement. <\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s 30-12 loss to Souths followed a 28-18 defeat to Manly and a 32-0 blowout against North Queensland, with the club no longer seeing Flanagan as the man to turn things around and feeling a change of direction was needed.<\/p>\n

Flanagan met with St George Illawarra chairman Andrew Lancaster on Sunday, where his fate was sealed.<\/p>\n

However, staggeringly Code Sports revealed<\/a> the players were kept in the dark, unaware of the decision as they arrived at training on Monday morning, despite the decision being made to go a different direction on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

Hours later the club announcing his removal just eight months after he was handed a two-year extension in an emergency press conference on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHead coach Shane Flanagan and General Manager of Football Ben Haran have departed the St George Illawarra Dragons by way of mutual agreement,\u201d Dragons CEO Tim Watsford said in a press conference in Wollongong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision followed discussions between Shane, Ben and club leadership and all parties agreed that the time was right for a new direction in the club\u2019s football program.\u201d<\/p>\n

No interim coach has been announced yet, with a decision to be made on who will lead the club for the Red V\u2019s Anzac Day clash against the Roosters to be decided later today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will undertake a thorough process regarding the future of the football department, including the appointment of a permanent NRL coach,\u201d Watsford continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do that carefully, efficiently, and with the long-term interests of the Dragons at the centre of every decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur 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\u2019s Anzac Round clash against the Roosters.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement Flanagan said: \u201cI 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

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank the players, staff, members and fans for their support and I wish the club well for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flanagan is the second coach this season to be sacked after Manly axed Anthony Seibold last month.<\/p>\n

Since then the Sea Eagles have looked a different side, reeling off three-straight wins.<\/p>\n

The Red V faithful will be hoping for a similar bounce in their post-Flanagan era. <\/p>\n

Flanagan has coached 11 seasons in the NRL, and most notably steered Cronulla to their first premiership in 2016.<\/p>\n

He joined the Dragons in 2024 but won just 19 of his 55 matches in charge. <\/p>\n

273-game Dragons legend and current Souths assistant Ben Hornby is considered a front-runner to replace Flanagan long-term.<\/p>\n

However, Dean Young is most likely to be announced as the interim coach, with the support of the club\u2019s attacking coach Michael Ennis.<\/p>\n

More to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane Flanagan has been sacked by the Dragons on the back of a disastrous 11-game losing streak, unsurprising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-618360","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\/618360","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=618360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}