Season 2026

[Bin Chicken]

I'll be watching every game like usual.

But there is a local union club up the road, might start going to those games and watching that sport

Great sport to watch and get involved with. Nothing comes close to being involved in a local rugby club .

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

Great sport to watch and get involved with. Nothing comes close to being involved in a local rugby club .

for sure! I used to watch games on abc back in the day

 

[sammymills]

Great sport to watch and get involved with. Nothing comes close to being involved in a local rugby club .

Im a die hard dragons fan but played many games for Gordon in sydney club rugby. Watching Shute Shield rugby live on a saturday arvo is fantastic. Usually get 500-2000 to a game and great atmosphere, having a few beers and watching the game. Usually very free-flowing and exciting rugby too.

 

[redandwhite4evr]

Isn’t this an old story?
He comes across as a very prickly character who doesn’t take criticism well.
A player getting a better/longer contract from another club is nothing new.

He certainly can’t complain about being sacked from the wnrl coaching gig as his record was very ordinary without mentioning the amount of players who left under his tenure.

Yes- Soward seems to have a permanent chip on his shoulder. He is a poor communicator and comes across as blunt, aggro and inarticulate. I can imagine he would have upset NRLW players and the Dragons team lost numerous talented players from its original team with him at the helm.

 

[thebigredv]

Yes- Soward seems to have a permanent chip on his shoulder. He is a poor communicator and comes across as blunt, aggro and inarticulate. I can imagine he would have upset NRLW players and the Dragons team lost numerous talented players from its original team with him at the helm.

Its the same passion that made him a premiership player. I know he needed to improve with temper and communication but its the lack of passion in the club that worries me more.

We need winners.

 

[ruthless dragon]

Its the same passion that made him a premiership player. I know he needed to improve with temper and communication but its the lack of passion in the club that worries me more.

We need winners.

Fit Winners

 

[Como Connection]

Im a die hard dragons fan but played many games for Gordon in sydney club rugby. Watching Shute Shield rugby live on a saturday arvo is fantastic. Usually get 500-2000 to a game and great atmosphere, having a few beers and watching the game. Usually very free-flowing and exciting rugby too.

Sammy did you play at Gordon with my old mate John Maxwell?
CC

 

[The Word]

Yes- Soward seems to have a permanent chip on his shoulder. He is a poor communicator and comes across as blunt, aggro and inarticulate. I can imagine he would have upset NRLW players and the Dragons team lost numerous talented players from its original team with him at the helm.

When I listen to Jamie Soward talk about football, blunt I agree with, but inarticulate no way. He knows his football and he talks about it well.

 

[Crush]

Its the same passion that made him a premiership player. I know he needed to improve with temper and communication but its the lack of passion in the club that worries me more.

We need winners.

Our coach is a premiership winner isn’t he? And seems very passionate.
Where do you see the lack of passion?
I see a lack of skill for sure, but they seem passionate, tried their guts out this season, just weren’t good enough though.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Our coach is a premiership winner isn’t he? And seems very passionate.

I agree with this but his nepotism is not a good look. I was stoked he came to Saints but this season he has left a bad taste unfortunately. His nepotism overrides all his passion and premiership winning attributes as he will not win a comp with his son Kyle in the halves.

It was a bad move having him and his son in the same team. Unless his son was a future immortal like Nathan Cleary but Kyle is far from that. Hopefully this new senior management group get on top of this asap and next season demand Flanno snr select the best possible team with a new experienced half on board not his favourites.

 

[17thPlaceLifer]

I agree with this but his nepotism is not a good look. I was stoked he came to Saints but this season he has left a bad taste unfortunately. His nepotism overrides all his passion and premiership winning attributes as he will not win a comp with his son Kyle in the halves.

It was a bad move having him and his son in the same team. Unless his son was a future immortal like Nathan Cleary but Kyle is far from that. Hopefully this new senior management group get on top of this asap and next season demand Flanno snr select the best possible team with a new experienced half on board not his favourites.

I don't think the Nepotism beat up from the media is as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Illias has not been great this year. I watch the NSW cup pretty closely and Illias was no stand out in the comp. He had his moments and as soon as he did, the media was ALL over it with the calls of Nepotism etc. etc. Plain and simple he was on par with Kyle at best.

If you want to have a gripe at something. Blame dragons management for not previously having a head of recruitment. Bringing Illias over in the first place was probably the mistake. It's honestly an achievement to Flanno that he hasn't stuffed up more recruitment decisions. Having to be both Head coach of a professional team and drive recruitment in the modern era is a recipe for disaster.

 

[Slippery Morris]

Getting rid of Sullivan and Ward, 2 solid halves was like he was clearing the decks of sevens for Kyle to walk into that position. I feel there were moves before then to make it happen. Illias was a 50/50 gamble especially coming off a pretty serious injury that had him miss a season, and it worked in the Flanagan's favour. Saints have not been linked with any decent half since. Until I see Saints sign a decent half to partner Atko or at least have decent back up, Saints are cooked. What happens in Atko cops an injury which is very likely in this day and age of NRL? No real back up just the 2 youngsters Reed and LKT.

I hope I am wrong but the 7 is a very very important position as we saw in the finals series. Saints will have no chance without a solid 7.

 

[since77]

I agree with this but his nepotism is not a good look. I was stoked he came to Saints but this season he has left a bad taste unfortunately. His nepotism overrides all his passion and premiership winning attributes as he will not win a comp with his son Kyle in the halves.

It was a bad move having him and his son in the same team. Unless his son was a future immortal like Nathan Cleary but Kyle is far from that. Hopefully this new senior management group get on top of this asap and next season demand Flanno snr select the best possible team with a new experienced half on board not his favourites.

This nepotism thing is nonsense. Not many people see the NSW cup games but once people jumped on the bandwagon to watch the NSW cup GF it became very clear to most that Ilias was terrible. It wasn't nepotism when Souths dropped him. And it wasn't when our coach dropped him. Unfortunately there was zero depth in that postion. Should Glover had been given a go at some point this season? Possibly. And then we have a defensively weak LKT and a rookie half who was leaving the club anyway. Kyle is average but makes sense.
The one thing Flanagan can and should be criticised for in the whole halfback debacle this year was panic buying Ilias in the first place. Ilias was always going to be a dud. I called it when it was still a rumour. It was a terrible purchase.

 

[Dragonslayer]

It's only nepotism when the team loses.

Just ask Ivan or sticky.

 

[CronullaSaint]

1

Getting rid of Sullivan and Ward, 2 solid halves was like he was clearing the decks of sevens for Kyle to walk into that position. I feel there were moves before then to make it happen. Illias was a 50/50 gamble especially coming off a pretty serious injury that had him miss a season, and it worked in the Flanagan's favour. Saints have not been linked with any decent half since. Until I see Saints sign a decent half to partner Atko or at least have decent back up, Saints are cooked. What happens in Atko cops an injury which is very likely in this day and age of NRL? No real back up just the 2 youngsters Reed and LKT.

I hope I am wrong but the 7 is a very very important position as we saw in the finals series. Saints will have no chance without a solid 7.

100% agree

 

[Gomarchin]

I asked chat GPT to show me an example of 'nepotism' and it gave me this link: https://www.dragons.com.au/news/2024/12/19/dragons-extend-kyle-flanagan-for-two-years/

 

[mundine]

Saints will have no chance without a solid 7.

ahh this fills me with nostalgia from the 'we cant win a comp with Hornby at 7' days

 

[Flinstone]

ahh this fills me with nostalgia from the 'we cant win a comp with Hornby at 7' days

Yep, won with no frills Ben Hornby, and Soward the coward.
I think they actually introduced the 7 tackle set when the ball goes dead in goal because of Soward, He would kick it dead from 40 out on purpose to deprive players like Jarred Hayne returning the ball. They could then get a defensive line set.
I guess Bennett used the 6 & 7 the best way he could.
Dean young and Nathen Fein at dummy half. They definitely wouldn't of been one of the top hookers in the NRL.

 

[redv13]

This nepotism thing is nonsense. Not many people see the NSW cup games but once people jumped on the bandwagon to watch the NSW cup GF it became very clear to most that Ilias was terrible. It wasn't nepotism when Souths dropped him. And it wasn't when our coach dropped him. Unfortunately there was zero depth in that postion. Should Glover had been given a go at some point this season? Possibly. And then we have a defensively weak LKT and a rookie half who was leaving the club anyway. Kyle is average but makes sense.
The one thing Flanagan can and should be criticised for in the whole halfback debacle this year was panic buying Ilias in the first place. Ilias was always going to be a dud. I called it when it was still a rumour. It was a terrible purchase.

I watched every Saints game of nsw cup this year and at no point was I ripping my hair out screaming for Illias to replace Kyle

 

[Anon]

I think they actually introduced the 7 tackle set when the ball goes dead in goal because of Soward, He would kick it dead from 40 out on purpose to deprive players like Jarred Hayne returning the ball. They could then get a defensive line set.

I still recall round 1 2010 we played Parra and Blocker Roach whining in his high pitched voice that we shouldnt be allowed to deliberately kick the ball dead as the fans wanted to see Hayne run the ball back

The seven tackle restart soon followed. In my opinion One of the most ridiculous rule changes implemented in recent times along with banning all contact on a player in the air catching a kick on the full.