{"id":68840,"date":"2025-08-14T23:41:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T23:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/68840\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T23:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T23:41:09","slug":"st-george-illawarra-showing-signs-of-promise-under-shane-flanagan-after-jason-ryles-rejection-roster-analysis-finals-drought-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/68840\/","title":{"rendered":"St George Illawarra showing signs of promise under Shane Flanagan after Jason Ryles rejection, roster analysis, finals drought, position"},"content":{"rendered":"

It takes a special kind of resilience to be a Dragons fan, where life in the red and white washing machine cycles through the same emotions each year before inevitably ending with Mad Monday somewhere beside a pool in early September.<\/p>\n

But arguably there hasn\u2019t been a more chastening day than the one Jason Ryles, a club legend pegged for a long-term NRL coaching career, looked under the bonnet and said, \u2018nah, this isn\u2019t for me\u2019.<\/p>\n

For all the positive things Ryles has done ripping up and rebuilding the Eels this year, it\u2019s easy to forget he had a four-year contract only waiting for his signature at the Dragons.<\/p>\n

As is the modern way in the wooing process for a head coach, he was shown through everything, including a salary cap so bent out of shape not even a blacksmith would consider touching it. Ryles certainly didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

But a couple of years on, are the Dragons finally getting somewhere despite being destined to miss the finals for a seventh straight season, a stretch worse than every other NRL team not named Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

Mathematically, they can still make the finals with four rounds left, but when you start talking mathematical chances it generally means no chance.<\/p>\n

The NRL is designed, by its salary cap, to give every team theoretically an equal chance of making the finals every year. To have clubs like the Dragons, Tigers and Bulldogs (up until last year) with big fan bases watching on from the outside for so long hasn\u2019t been healthy for the overall competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t weigh on us,\u201d coach Shane Flanagan says of the drought. \u201cIt\u2019s a big club and we want to play finals every year, but in the modern game it\u2019s hard to play finals every year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou talk about clubs that play finals every year, the one that comes straight to mind is Melbourne. What have they got? Stability. That\u2019s what we\u2019re working on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you need talent. I was never going to come in and say, \u2018we\u2019re going to win the comp\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you looked hard enough through the driving rain the last two weeks, you might have finally seen a Shane Flanagan blueprint coming to life at the Red V.<\/p>\n

Dragons dent Sharks’ finals hopes | 00:52<\/p>\n

The cynics would say the awful conditions have dragged the table-topping Raiders and in-form Sharks back to a level which suits the Dragons, who play like the seagull perennially scrapping for the last chip.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also worth noting the club\u2019s crippling injury toll which will this week rob them of their first-choice centres (Valentine Holmes and Moses Suli), back-rowers (Jaydn Su\u2019A and Dylan Egan) and promising props (Toby and Ryan Couchman).<\/p>\n

It might only be a little thing, but in the moments after they beat Cronulla for the first time in 11 attempts last week, injured players such as Suli, Su\u2019A and Holmes mobbed their sodden teammates on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think the club is connected at the moment,\u201d Flanagan says. \u201cWe know we can play at that level.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur season in review is the early games we lost by a point and a couple where we scored more tries than the opposition \u2013 and we needed to nail them. There are probably five games there (we should have won) and if we won those, we\u2019re not even discussing this. We\u2019re in the top four.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we were developing as a team, maybe we weren\u2019t connected as much as we should have been at the start of the year, maybe a few new players weren\u2019t ready, but we need to get our learnings from it and take them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you also should have seen the excitement when Hayden Buchanan was told he was going to make his debut. He\u2019s trained all year and the support they show the young kids who get a chance. They\u2019re really connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE NRL<\/p>\n

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GAMES THAT WILL SHAPE THE TOP 8: What\u2019s at stake for Dogs in NRL epic; Panthers\u2019 harsh finals reality <\/a><\/p>\n

Flanno takes issue with bunker decisions | 06:28<\/p>\n

It was perhaps not a surprise the Dragons signed Flanagan to a contract extension until 2028 recently, even if the speed of the negotiations (wrapped up in a week) were.<\/p>\n

The last thing the Dragons board, led by influential media executive Andrew Lancaster, who has had his term extended himself, wanted was a slew of headlines about the coach\u2019s future heading into next year.<\/p>\n

So, what do the Dragons need to do be a top four powerhouse for the first time since the heady Wayne Bennett days?<\/p>\n

Much like Penrith did to crawl its way out of the big black cat hole it found itself in more than a decade ago, the Dragons have found a good crop of juniors, mostly forwards, they can build the club around.<\/p>\n

This year alone, Flanagan has handed NRL debuts to seven players: Buchanan, Egan, Jacob Halangahu, Nathan Lawson, Loko Pasifiki Tonga, Hamish Stewart and Nick Tsougranis. Flanagan said he thought he might debut \u201cfour or five\u201d at the start of the year. He\u2019s had to go for more.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of the reason why the club let its longest-serving player, Jack de Belin, walk to Parramatta when fans bemoaned his impact as one of the club\u2019s best in the forwards this year.<\/p>\n

De Belin will play his 250th NRL game in Auckland on Friday night and would have nudged the club\u2019s all-time games record with an injury free season in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a decision the club made and it was a salary cap management thing with Hamish Stewart, Dylan Egan, the Couchmans, Loko Pasifiki-Tonga coming through,\u201d Flanagan says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t my decision, the club made it and we have to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been some encouraging signs of late for Dragons fans.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

St George Illawarra\u2019s leadership void is not as dearth as it has been in previous seasons, largely thanks to the recruitment of co-captains Clint Gutherson and Damien Cook.<\/p>\n

On his first day of pre-season last year, Gutherson bounded up Mt Keira to win the Dragons\u2019 time trial. It raised eyebrows at Parramatta, who weren\u2019t sure his knees could withstand a punishing summer, particularly one which started so early.<\/p>\n

\u201cDay one Gutho said, \u2018I\u2019m going to win this\u2019,\u201d Flanagan says. \u201cHe led them up the top. He was first up there. And every player in the team loves Cooky, and the way he plays and he\u2019s just so professional. You talk about the team being connected, that\u2019s because of the two leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the coach knows more recruitment is needed, primarily a front-rower for the young forwards to learn off, a playmaker and outside back. Then, he thinks there will be a squad capable of challenging for the top four.<\/p>\n

At the moment, Daniel Atkinson will arrive from the Sharks next year as the Dragons\u2019 biggest signing having been given limited NRL game time this season. He\u2019ll be in the halves mix with Lyhkan King-Togia and Flanagan\u2019s son, Kyle, who has bore the brunt of fan criticism at stages throughout the year wearing the No.7 despite a string of solid performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can play seven, six, nine and he competes hard,\u201d Shane Flanagan says. \u201cWhether he\u2019s my son or not, he gets judged the same as everyone else and he\u2019s doing a really good job at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAtko has been a bit out of sight and out of mind. He\u2019s had some small patches of minutes and he\u2019s a big bonus for us. He could play 13 as a ball-playing middle if we need so we\u2019ve got that flexibility there.\u201d<\/p>\n

FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Shane Flanagan inks extension until 2028 | 02:10<\/p>\n

Dolphins forward Josh Kerr will also return to the Red V.<\/p>\n

The case for recruitment should be helped on two fronts.<\/p>\n

The club poached Daniel Anderson from the Roosters to head up its recruitment, not an insignificant move given the ex-coach\u2019s connections throughout the game while easing Flanagan\u2019s off-field workload, and early next year the club opens its state-of-the-art high-performance facility in Wollongong to finally bring the entire operation \u2013 from football to administration \u2013 under the one roof. The Dragons have even recently toured Parramatta\u2019s centre of excellence to understand what is required in the modern day NRL arms race.<\/p>\n

But it will amount to little in the eyes of fans if, in the next couple of years, they can\u2019t snap one of the most perplexing finals droughts in Australian sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s a process sometimes,\u201d Flanagan says. \u201cThere are a lot of things you need to get right \u2013 and top of that is attitude. The players need to understand what team I want as well, the standards and values, and the way we want to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s taken some time but we\u2019re slowly getting there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It takes a special kind of resilience to be a Dragons fan, where life in the red and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[33224,54497,54487,64,63,689,31549,54486,48990,6173,54481,11241,28400,4565,4420,29045,4437,47018,54488,36261,54493,54483,54485,54495,12099,54489,4431,54478,5330,54494,54482,4556,5114,53020,54480,7677,761,762,673,7868,158,677,11396,54490,54476,54492,54484,765,54475,7889,4583,24571,85,4563,54477,54474,670,54491,3185,52964,4412,1651,4515,54496,4526,54479],"class_list":["post-68840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-adam-pengilly","tag-andrew-lancaster","tag-arms-race","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-sport","tag-chastening-day","tag-clint-gutherson","tag-club-legend","tag-coaching-career","tag-contract-extension","tag-crippling-injury-toll","tag-cronulla-sharks","tag-damien-cook","tag-daniel-anderson","tag-daniel-atkinson","tag-derby-clash","tag-dragons-board","tag-dragons-coach","tag-dylan-egan","tag-fan-bases","tag-fan-criticism","tag-first-choice-centres","tag-game-time","tag-halves-mix","tag-hamish-stewart","tag-harsh-finals-reality","tag-head-coach","tag-influential-media-executive","tag-inks-extension","tag-jason-ryles","tag-kyle","tag-leadership-void","tag-management-thing","tag-moses-suli","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nightmare-scenario","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-paul-crawley","tag-perplexing-finals-droughts","tag-play-finals","tag-positive-things","tag-red-v-revival","tag-run-home","tag-ryan-couchman","tag-salary-cap","tag-shane-flanagan","tag-silver-lining","tag-sports","tag-st-george-illawarra-dragons","tag-state-of-the-art-high-performance-facility","tag-su","tag-sydney","tag-team-loves","tag-time-trial","tag-top-spot-flips","tag-valentine-holmes","tag-wayne-bennett","tag-wests-tigers","tag-white-washing-machine","tag-wollongong","tag-wooing-process"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68840","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=68840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}