{"id":541168,"date":"2026-04-20T14:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541168\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T14:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:36:11","slug":"nrl-sacking-shakes-up-super-league-head-coach-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541168\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL sacking shakes up Super League head coach search\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Several Super League clubs will be watching the news play out in the NRL that Shane Flanagan has been sacked, with the Australian now on the market.<\/p>\n

After a torrid start to the season, St George Illawarra Dragons have confirmed that head coach Shane Flanagan has been relieved of his duties with the 60-year-old seeing his time at the club end.<\/p>\n

Appointed ahead of the 2024 season on a three-year deal, Flanagan oversaw just 19 wins in 55 games with the Dragons finishing 15th in the NRL last season and sitting bottom of the table this year after not winning a single game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s therefore no surprise to see him axed but he may not be out of a job long as he could be a very appealing appointment for a number of Super League clubs who are without a head coach currently or for 2027.<\/p>\n

Flanagan oversaw Cronulla Sharks\u2019 Grand Final win in 2016 and he\u2019s also worked in England previously, serving as Castleford Tigers\u2019 assistant way back in 1997.<\/p>\n

It could now be the case that he may return to England, or even France, in a head coaching role almost 30 years on.<\/p>\n

Jazz Tevaga\u2019s sin-bin, Hull KR\u2019s underrated star and very early Man of Steel candidates \u2013\u00a0Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show.<\/a><\/p>\n

Super League clubs on notice after NRL axing<\/p>\n

There are currently two Super League clubs without head coaches whilst Hull KR have confirmed that Willie Peters will leave the club at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Both Huddersfield Giants<\/a> and Catalans Dragons are the sides without a head coach currently and they could well be interested in Flanagan\u2019s services, given his impressive resume as an NRL winner.<\/p>\n

Huddersfield have already opened up their search for a head coach so Flanagan\u2019s axing midway through a search could leave them with more to think about, though interim coach Liam Finn has made clear his desire for the role. So too has Catalans\u2019 interim coach Ryan Sheridan for the Dragons\u2019 job<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whether Flanagan is interested in an immediate return to coaching is another matter. One of the recent high-profile NRL sackings was Brad Arthur with the current Leeds Rhinos boss leaving Parramatta in May 2024 before joining Leeds to take charge of their final 10 games of the year.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his exit, 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

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several Super League clubs will be watching the news play out in the NRL that Shane Flanagan has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-541168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}