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Everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room aka nepo baby
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Everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room aka nepo baby
I'm a KF fan &, although there have been many suggesting he is not a half, he has not attracted much 'vitriol'
Yeh I get the efforts bit and agree but not convinced worthy 1st grader especially not a half as we need more to get anywhere
Yeah?
In his first year at the helm of the Red V, despite being installed as wooden spoon favourites, the club improved its standing by five positions.
Holmes won a premiership with Flanagan in the Shire in 2016, a relationship that was strained when the Maroons three-quarter quit to pursue his NFL ambition.
If this is the case and we do finally get someone who is a shrewd operator, then thats another step in the right direction, we really need someone that does more than talk the talk, and can take us forward with all these kids we have.
What's Ben Ikin doing these days?
Wasn't the TAJ coming up for a major refurbishment, cant see why something as your suggestion cant at least be looked at Mojo.
Webby wasn’t the problem but his inexperence in the game didn’t help.
Lets hope we dont stuff this up. If he is this "good", then offer a good deal get the signature and let's keep going forward
That’s the difference at the moment, Volkman signed up for reggies and backup. If it was us it would be for first grade.
Volkman set to confirm new club after talks with three
The former Warrior is set to put pen to paper.www.zerotackle.com
Absolutely. I've always said that all organisations take on the personality of the person at the top.‘Teams become their coaches’: How Flanagan is moulding the Dragons
By Adrian Proszenko
November 30, 2024 — 4.00pm
St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan subscribes to the theory that teams embody the personality of their coaches.
This is why Bob Fulton’s sides were ruthless; that discipline is the hallmark of Melbourne under Craig Bellamy; and Ricky Stuart’s charges mirror their mentor’s passion.
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“I agree. My dad was always into me about the same thing; eventually teams become their coaches,” Flanagan says.
“I think you’re right with some of those coaches you’re talking about. I’d like to think when I was at the Sharks and had Wade [Graham], Gal [Paul Gallen] and Mick Ennis, that we could create that, that they were my type of people, tough and ruthless.
“We’ve got some of them at the Dragons. I’d like to think the team becomes a bit more scrap and fight; [and] can win games by two points in the end.
“Also, that we’ve got enough class there now to put games away convincingly when we’re on … I just want competitors in my team who never give in, who keep going and chase together. We’ll compete really hard.”
A plumber by trade, Flanagan isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and climb into the trenches. At Cronulla, his team played the same way. When opponents came to Shark Park the visitors knew they were in for a fight.
“They were beaten before they got there,” Flanagan muses.
“When they come to Wollongong it’s going to be a little bit of that. They’re going to want to scrap and fight. When we go to Kogarah I’d like to think that we can replicate the same from the old Dragons days.
“We have a bit of a theory about that. It’s something I’d like to get to. Whether we get there or how long it takes to get to that point, I’m not quite sure. We’re on the right track.”
In his first year at the helm of the Red V, despite being installed as wooden spoon favourites, the club improved its standing by five positions.
“We’ve climbed the ladder – we’re nearly onto the roof, but we can’t get onto it just yet,” Flanagan says.
The Dragons appeared on course for a finals berth last season before, in Flanagan’s words, “falling off a cliff” in the last three weeks to crash out of contention. The premiership-winning coach believes learning from that experience, coupled with the recruitment of Clint Gutherson, Damien Cook, Valentine Holmes, Lachlan Ilias and rugby sevens star Nathan Lawson, will ensure there is no repeat.
The club’s recruitment also has echoes of Flanagan’s past.
“Definitely, there’s a similarity with the Sharks – I hope the results are the same,” Flanagan says of his recruitment philosophy.
“I like working with senior players that have done it and I know I can get some more out of them. I don’t know if you’d call them hardened first-graders, but they have the experience of playing semi-finals and winning games.”
The bookies remain unconvinced, again installing the Dragons as wooden spoon favourites.
“Look, it’s one of those things, you have to prove people wrong, and we’re no different this year,” says Gutherson who, along with Cook, is in the frame to fill the captaincy void left by the departure of Ben Hunt.
“We’re gonna be looking forward to where we want to go as a team and as a club, and the only way to prove [critics] wrong is to win.”
With each key recruit unwanted by their previous club, they will have something to prove. For Ilias, it’s a chance to step out of the shadow of Adam Reynolds and prove that he can fill the shoes of Hunt. In Cook’s case, it’s a chance to finish his NRL career where it started.
“It feels great, just going down to Wollongong, where all my junior footy started,” Cook says.
“WIN Stadium was the ground you always wanted to play at as a junior. Just to have these colours back on is a bit surreal, a full-circle moment for me.”
Holmes won a premiership with Flanagan in the Shire in 2016, a relationship that was strained when the Maroons three-quarter quit to pursue his NFL ambition.
“I was probably young and naive; I thought I could do anything at that time,” Holmes reflects.
Now, Holmes will reunite with Flanagan as a senior player, one who can help Gutherson and Cook guide an otherwise youthful roster.
“If these younger lads want to learn from us, that’s good, and if they want to ask us questions, that’s even better,” Holmes says.
Flanagan’s foundations are built on hard work. That’s why, on the first day of pre-season, Dragons players were sent for a five-kilometre run up Mt Keira near Wollongong. It was symbolic of what the club is trying to achieve.
“We’ve got to keep climbing the mountain,” Flanagan says. “We’ve started that process, we need to continue it.
‘Teams become their coaches’: How Flanagan is moulding the Dragons
By Adrian Proszenko
November 30, 2024 — 4.00pm
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St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan subscribes to the theory that teams embody the personality of their coaches.
This is why Bob Fulton’s sides were ruthless; that discipline is the hallmark of Melbourne under Craig Bellamy; and Ricky Stuart’s charges mirror their mentor’s passion.
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