Bye Round Graham with Flanagan

[ruthless dragon]

If you want a really good insight into Flanagans thinking for the coming year check out the interview.
His astute buying so far will see the Dragons finally put a solid stamp on the competition.
Go Hard

 

[Dragon David]

 

[bad boy bubby]

I watched it this morning. Great interview.
Taking away my Sharks bias, the one thing you guys should take out of it is where Flange said he stood back a bit this year but next year he will definitely be up in the players faces, or words to that effect.
Very impressive from both Graham and Flanagan.

 

[shazam]

Good interview

 

[RedVee]

I watched it this morning. Great interview.
Taking away my Sharks bias, the one thing you guys should take out of it is where Flange said he stood back a bit this year but next year he will definitely be up in the players faces, or words to that effect.
Very impressive from both Graham and Flanagan.

Quite telling when he basically said we had no leaders this year. Hence Gutho & Cooke.

It was a good insight.

 

[justadragon]

Hunt had us over a barrel with his contract and the money we were paying him. In the nicest possible way SF wanted to get rid of him ASAP. Even in saying that Hunt was not a talking leader, but a leader on the field as in follow me boys. Well When was the last time you saw Hunt do that, and even if he did, how many games did that last for. Make no mistake Flanno would have been seething over the little sooks performance and his comments during the Pacific Championships.

 

[hewi]

Hunt wouldn’t play hooker if it was best for the team, Gutho plays with a busted quad and cartilage damage in the ribs. Leaders lead by example Hunt leads by his bank account.

 

[Carrera28]

Hunt wouldn’t play hooker if it was best for the team, Gutho plays with a busted quad and cartilage damage in the ribs. Leaders lead by example Hunt leads by his bank account.

Not disagreeing with your sentiments at all.

I think Hunt was never focused on being an old field leader or general. He was focused on his game and his performance which is fine for a player who is not the dominant/inspirational playmaker.

The dominant/inspirational playmaker should be looking for spots to inject themselves and perform but they are also looking for ways in which to involve other key members and to make sure that no one slacks off. Previously Gareth Widdop and Cameron McInnes took on the role of finding a way to get team mates involved and calling out underperformers.

The best example of this in recent times was Cameron Smith who was the on field general that managed the storm team and that freed up space for Munster and Cronk to focus on their game.

When Hunt voluntarily took on the captaincy he never stepped up on or off the field to find ways to encourage other players to be more involved nor did he call out underperformers. He liked playing for Hook because he got be the good cop in terms of club captain but never had to do any of the difficult leadership stuff as Hook took all that on.

Hook and Hunt were a dysfunctional leadership team predominately because Hook never asked the hard questions of Hunt and never demanded Hunt to actually lead or do anything for his team mates. Hunt's team mates probably liked him but I doubt they were ever in awe of him because of his inspirational work ethic or demand for his team mates.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Hunt had the Dragons Management under the thumb and they gave him more than people realise. I have no doubt he played a huge role in getting Hook to the Saints. He also got his mate Corey Norman, Macca and Maguire and the other 2 bronco's outside backs that failed. Saints caved into his demands and it all went to shite. He definitely should have no gripes with the Saints as they gave him what he wanted. As soon as Flanno came in, Ben had less of a say as it should and spat the dummy.

There is no way he expected Saints to perform as good as they did, Not the best as they missed the 8 but they came close and he failed miserably to help them achieve that goal losing to teams outside the 8 in the final games. Flanno let him know that he was partly to blame and he again spat the dummy. So glad he is gone and very interested to see how he goes with Reynolds running the show. If Hunt plays hooker for the Broncos they would be a top 4 team imo, as he would provide Reynolds great service to steer the ship. Instead they will rely on Walters or a junior hooker because Hunt will want a halves spot. I am interested to see if Madge eventually does move him there as he is the type that if it is not working may force the change and fun will begin. Hunt will be safe though as Reynolds is sure to get injured and be out for most games leaving Hunt to play 7.

 

[56to66]

I never new Flanno spent 7yrs under 1 of the best coaches never to win a comp in Brian Smith, Smithy being an ex teacher obviously taught him really well.
I think St George really should extend his contract ASAP.

 

[Dea]

I was really impressed with Flanno in this interview. He speaks freely and fluently. Such a change from that goose McGregor. Flanno gives the impression he knows what he is doing and has a plan to keep on improving the team, both with strategic player purchases and by getting the team to improve each year. The other comment that caught my attention was his decision to become more hands on this year.

 

[56to66]

I was really impressed with Flanno in this interview. He speaks freely and fluently. Such a change from that goose McGregor. Flanno gives the impression he knows what he is doing and has a plan to keep on improving the team, both with strategic player purchases and by getting the team to improve each year. The other comment that caught my attention was his decision to become more hands on this year.

He speaks with certainty as if it will happen without any doubt, he has this deep seeded belief of everything and anything is possible, he will manifest another Premiership.
Hopefully it will be with St George and not with that other team, the BOARD, must be very careful not to lose him.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Hunt had the Dragons Management under the thumb and they gave him more than people realise. I have no doubt he played a huge role in getting Hook to the Saints. He also got his mate Corey Norman, Macca and Maguire and the other 2 bronco's outside backs that failed. Saints caved into his demands and it all went to shite. He definitely should have no gripes with the Saints as they gave him what he wanted. As soon as Flanno came in, Ben had less of a say as it should and spat the dummy.

There is no way he expected Saints to perform as good as they did, Not the best as they missed the 8 but they came close and he failed miserably to help them achieve that goal losing to teams outside the 8 in the final games. Flanno let him know that he was partly to blame and he again spat the dummy. So glad he is gone and very interested to see how he goes with Reynolds running the show. If Hunt plays hooker for the Broncos they would be a top 4 team imo, as he would provide Reynolds great service to steer the ship. Instead they will rely on Walters or a junior hooker because Hunt will want a halves spot. I am interested to see if Madge eventually does move him there as he is the type that if it is not working may force the change and fun will begin. Hunt will be safe though as Reynolds is sure to get injured and be out for most games leaving Hunt to play 7.

 

[kit66]

Great interview, very insightful. I would have liked to hear more from Flanno to get his thoughts on some of our players individually but never mind, they still covered a lot of issues.
The comments about the lack of leadership and competitiveness in the 2024 squad were interesting and made a lot of sense and highlighted the necessity and value of the Gutho, Cookie and Val signings. He needs to find a similar quality leader to lead our forward pack. It's disappointing to think that of all our veterans like JDB, Lawrie, Molo, pretty much all our forwards really, bar the Couchmen, none were able to step up and lead. Shows the lack of coaching skills at the Dragons in the recent past to let it get to that point. Hope Flanno can fix it.

 

[jay mac]

Gave it a listen yesterday. Great interview and gave me goosebumps the way Flano thinks. We are in such good hand imo. Also thought to myself, what a privileged age we live in to have access to this type of content. Imagine being able to go back and listen to in-depth interviews with Harry Bath or Sticks and get insight into their mindset!

 

[Slippery Morris]

I finished listening to the interview and when he spoke about the rebuild of Cronulla it is sounding similar to what he is doing at Saints. He said his sliding doors moments are when he brought in Ennis unwanted at the Dogs (Cookie at Souths) and Luke Lewis not enjoying his time and not wanted at Souths (Gutho). I am hoping these 2 have the same effect. He is pretty confident in the boys he has and looks like in no rush to bring in others. Guys like Bakuya, Fafita and Wade Graham were not setting the world alight but ended up really good players which is what he will do with the Saints boys. He must like what he is seeing and just waiting for the right big bopper to come available and not jumping on the first one that comes out. He is influenced by Ron Massey and did quite a few years at Parra under Brian Smith. Not bad tutors to have in your young years of coaching.

Main thing is when he got the gig he was able to let his dad know before he passed which shows how much this job would mean to him and his family of Dragons fans, so the talk about him moving is just click bait. I cannot see him going unless the Saints board really pi$$ him off which they would be stupid too. From looking at the last 3 coaches, they are pretty loyal and give the coach plenty of chance before they start to think of sacking them. They are pretty loyal with their coaches, too loyal for my liking with the last 3.

 

[RedVee]

I finished listening to the interview and when he spoke about the rebuild of Cronulla it is sounding similar to what he is doing at Saints. He said his sliding doors moments are when he brought in Ennis unwanted at the Dogs (Cookie at Souths) and Luke Lewis not enjoying his time and not wanted at Souths (Gutho). I am hoping these 2 have the same effect. He is pretty confident in the boys he has and looks like in no rush to bring in others. Guys like Bakuya, Fafita and Wade Graham were not setting the world alight but ended up really good players which is what he will do with the Saints boys. He must like what he is seeing and just waiting for the right big bopper to come available and not jumping on the first one that comes out. He is influenced by Ron Massey and did quite a few years at Parra under Brian Smith. Not bad tutors to have in your young years of coaching.

Main thing is when he got the gig he was able to let his dad know before he passed which shows how much this job would mean to him and his family of Dragons fans, so the talk about him moving is just click bait. I cannot see him going unless the Saints board really pi$$ him off which they would be stupid too. From looking at the last 3 coaches, they are pretty loyal and give the coach plenty of chance before they start to think of sacking them. They are pretty loyal with their coaches, too loyal for my liking with the last 3.

And on the SEN interview he mentioned he played under the Wok when he went to Wests.

A couple of good coaches to learn from.