I like to watch old games in the off-season and spent the last week or so watching games involving Kyle Flanagan exclusively and it threw up a few surprises and an idea of how and where to play him.
First though I need to apologize to the young fellow for bagging him out badly on here when we signed him. In my defence I was going purely off his time at the Doggies which by any account was horrific. He won more games in one year at the Rorters (13 in 2020 - short year too) than in three years at the Dogs (12 in 2021-3) and if you study that in a bit of detail, it actually says more about the Coaches, Systems and halves Kyle has played with/worked under than it does about Kyle himself.
His 3 years at the Dogs were just bad all round. Bad career move in the first place, terrible Coaches in the nervous and fickle Trent Barrett, then Michael Potter then Gus's great white hope, Cameron Ciraldo (more disappointment on the way Gus). Kyle went from a top 4 side in 2020 to a spoon contender from round 1 2021 (the Dogs start to 2021 was the worst since Glebe in 1928 - thanks Wiki). Barrett blamed Kyle and everyone else when it turns out it was just him being a worse coach than.....anyone...ever, including Mary.
Compare that to 2020 at the Roosters, after a slow start, Flanagan in the 7 and Keary in the 6 began to fire under the direction of coach Robinson. Kyle directing the troops and Keary running at will and setting up the plays. It worked really well, very basic with the 7 organizing and distributing (and sharing kicking duties) and taking the pressure off the 6 when needed and the 6 creating and executing plays. If you watch a couple of their 2020 games you'll see how well coached these guys were and how successfully they put their training into practice on the field. Watch the Roosters' demolition of the Broncos in round 4, 2020 for example - Flanagan finished with a try, try assist and kicked 9/10 goals and gave Keary the opportunity to concentrate purely on his role.
Flanagan had a good year at the Roosters (4 tries, 11 assists, 91 goals) and was unlucky not to be re-signed but as is the way at Bondi they had their eye on the next shiny thing, making the not so shiny thing expendable - i.e. shiny Sam Walker, not so shiny Flanagan. Plus they had Lachlan Lam and Drew Hutchinson as back ups (whom they used when Keary was ruled out for the year with injury).
So I'm thinking Flanagan 7, Hunt 6 and train them to work together exactly how Flanagan worked with Keary. I have no doubt Hunt could do that and would relish unleashing his running game and leaving the organizing to someone else. Plus sharing the kicking with a competent kicker would make him more relaxed and "sharing".
I'm also thinking we don't really need Dearden for 2024, not if Hunt stays. Concentrate on AFB and some speedy backs or a real fullback, maybe a 2nd rower of note.
Kyle could turn out better than we expect under his dad's coaching. He's shown he's good at doing what he's told, he has all the basic skills to play half, he could potentially be a boon for Hunt, he kicks goals better than Lomax and his defence has improved dramatically since 2020 (at the Roosters which may have contributed to him not being re-signed).
If Amone is ruled out (or even if he's not) I'd be happy to trial Kyle in the halves, might be a good thing.
