Flanagan Departs Dragons By “Mutual Agreement” and Coincidentally So Does The Head of Football: The Dragons have finally pulled the pin on the Shane Flanagan era and made the most of it with the long overdue decision to remove Head of Football Ben Harran. The Dragons brass, of course, cased it as mutual agreement in what was as laughable as it was condescending in one of the worst press conferences a club pulled off when making a major personnel change. Chairman Andew Lancaster shaped up like Mighty Mouse when he claimed the coverage of the club had been poor and continually invoked “duty of care” like it was a get out of jail free card. Yet when hit with why Flanagan was extended last year with no market for his services and his sacking coming before his extension event started, he bristled and deflected and didn’t come close to answering.
The Flanagan era had to come to an end though. It was not just the 11 straight losses. It was the obstinance of Flanagan in refusing to make changes and the state of the roster he built to go with a revolt amongst a section of the playing group that believe they have had their development ignored.
The problem with hiring recycled coaches is that they try to run back what they once had with older players they believe are a known commodity. They are derelict in long-term player development as they chase immediate results with older players, in the process putting the club into salary cap peril. This is exactly what Flanagan has done. Valentine Holmes is the prime example. He is perhaps the highest paid outside back in the NRL yet should have been dropped six weeks ago. Clint Gutherson and Damien Cook have been just marginally less destructive. Josh Kerr is on less money but eats up valuable minutes. Yet they don’t get dropped because Flanagan was too attached to them. It was the same with his halves pairing with son Kyle and Dan Atkinson clearly not working together yet Kade Reed not given an opportunity. Flanagan seemed to deliberately avoid signing halves of any quality to challenge his son.
The surprise is not that the Dragons have lost 11 straight. It is that they have not lost more.
Ben Harran was also long overdue the axe. He had run football since 2021. Over that time the Dragons went 44-83, never finished higher than 10th and hired two grizzled recycled coaches known for their stubbornness.
Moving on from both was smart – even if the rest of the game knew a long time ago it had to happen. Whether the Dragons are smart enough to make some sharp next moves is another question entirely.
Fixing The Dally M Farce: The Dally M Medal should be the NRL’s most revered individual award. Yet it has been turned into a joke, a complete and utter farce where the voting is beyond clownish, the ceremony is completely laughable and the coverage is a joke. Here is what the NRL need to do to fix the Dally M Medal:
- Voting returns to 3-2-1
- Officials to vote on all games OR a selection of former coaches and media members.
- All voters are made public
- A jury panel is established between five credible Rugby League personalities: a former player, a former coach, a play by play caller, a written media member and a former official to ensure all votes are credible.
- No votes are published
- All votes are read on Dally M Medal night along with the voter for that game
- All games that were rejected by the jury are noted
- Counting progresses as per the Brownlow Medal with every game covered
- Betting is allowed on the Dally M Medal
Luke Keary Is The Game’s Best TV Analyst: TV analysts in the NRL tend to be one of two types. The Coaching Types who like to drill into the Xs and Os and are usually chasing either a coaching job (see Michael Ennis) or the ego boost (see Cooper Cronk) and the Old Mates who think the gig is just bantering with your mates, trying to get a rise and a laugh (see nearly every other analyst). Neither type use their platform to actually go after individual players, particularly those recently retired. They typically speak in generalities. They speak in niceties. They rarely call it like they truly see it. Not Luke Keary. He comes in and leaves nobody uncertain about how he feels and what he thinks. His absolute – and justified – decimation of Valentine Holmes after his poor season and completely abhorrent showing against South Sydney. It is completely refreshing to have an analyst out there who is prepared, who is fearless and who does the job the way it should be done.
The Best Tactic Teams Never Use: Teams ahead by a single score with the ball in hand should be running backwards and then stepping dead if there is anywhere 50 seconds or under. If the moment the player steps dead is 35 seconds or under, the game is over. Clock up the two points. Lock in the win. This is a loophole that needs to be exploited – even if it requires a Tony Iro special.
Finally A Send Off: After enduring not a single send off in 2025, a referee finally had the bottle to send a player off when Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski dismissed Jaydn Su’A for a reckless high shot that nearly decapitated Cameron Murray. It would be nice if referees could find the actual balance between sending everyone off as per 2022 and sending no player off as per last year.
Marcelo Montoya’s Future Is Podcasting: If Cameron Ciraldo doesn’t drop Marcelo Montoya after what he saw on Sunday then he may as well bring Ciraldo into his family as some kind of adopted son. Montoya has always been a limited player but is, in the language of the kids these days, cooked. He is almost certainly the slowest, most immobile winger in the competition. He was gapped in a clear sprint with backup hooker Tallyn Da Silva. He could not keep up with backrower Jacob Preston on a break. He got completely burnt by Josh Addo-Carr in the space of about three metres. This is to say nothing of his ordinary hands and total inability to compete in the air. There is just no way he can retain his spot in the team and the Bulldogs should be doing all they can to swindle a Super League club into signing him.
The Willie M Team of the Week – Round 7: This week’s team of of the cast and the clownish:
1.Tyrell Sloan (Dra)[Text Wrapping Break]2.Marcelo Montoya (Bul)[Text Wrapping Break]3.Valentine Holmes (Dra)[Text Wrapping Break]4.Josh Curran (Bul)[Text Wrapping Break]5.Heamasi Makasini (Tig)[Text Wrapping Break]6.Jake Clifford (NQ)[Text Wrapping Break]7.Kyle Flanagan (Dra)[Text Wrapping Break]8.Emre Guler (Dra)[Text Wrapping Break]9.Soni Luke (NQ)[Text Wrapping Break]10.Leo Thompson (Bul)[Text Wrapping Break]11.Jaydn Su’A (Dra)[Text Wrapping Break]12.Cooper Clarke (Mel)[Text Wrapping Break]13.Trent Loiero (Mel)[Text Wrapping Break]——————————————————[Text Wrapping Break]14.Jonathan Sua (Bul)[Text Wrapping Break]15.Peter Hola (New)[Text Wrapping Break]16.Alec MacDonald (Mel)[Text Wrapping Break]17.Sam McIntyre (NQ)[Text Wrapping Break]——————————————————-
Coach: Cameron Ciraldo (Bul)
Referee Gradings: This week’s officiating gradings:
Gerard Sutton (C)
Peter Gough (D)
Adam Gee (B)
Wyatt Raymond (C)
Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski (C-)
Todd Smith (D+)
Ashley Klein (C+)
Liam Kennedy (D-) – Kennedy’s bitching about being chastised for blowing too many set restarts resulted in him blowing three in the Eels-Bulldogs clash.
The 2026 Field Goal Update – 7: It was a super weekend for the field goal with two of its finest exponents Nathan Cleary and Adam Reynolds both slotting one-pointers in one-point wins for the Panthers and Broncos respectively.
Fun Fact #1: St George Illawarra have a single finals win since Wayne Bennett left in 2011.
Fun Fact #2: The Dragons have had just a single winning season since 2011.
Fun Fact #3: The Dragons have scored more than 500 points just three times since 2010.
Rumour Mill: There has been speculation coming out of the Perth Bears that all is not well and that one of the ramifications could be Mal Meninga not coaching the club’s first season. Nathan Cleary has been offered huge money by both Rugby Australia and Hull FC with the latter a genuine runner considering his relationship with Mary Fowler, who is based in the UK. Christchurch has emerged as the front runner for the 20th NRL team as the NRL looks to squeeze down on the throat
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Playing Josh Curran in the centres might be the most horrifically crippling decision in a string of moronic selection and rotation calls he has made this year. Enari Tuala was ruled out but rather than play the outside back that was named on the bench. Curran is a worker but has the speed of a garden gnome and the hands of a digital clock. Curran is an honest journeyman who has been underutilised as a middle. Ciraldo’s justification was also pure fantasy too, claiming that Curran played centre at the Warriors. Josh Curran started exactly zero games at centre for the Warriors – and has never started anywhere in the backline at either NRL or NSW Cup level. Jonathan Sua may be inexperienced but he was put in the 21 and therefore should have been the first called upon – not a journeyman forward who not only hasn’t played in the backs before but has shown no skillset to play in the backs. Ciraldo has completely lost the plot with some of his selection decisions but this is his Mona Lisa, his White Album, his Debbie Does Dallas.
The Coaching Crosshairs: St George Illawarra are now on the hunt for a new coach and given their complete ineptitude in hiring, they will need plenty of help. There is strong speculation that the club is pushing to hire an old boy in either Dean Young or Ben Hornby. Young is a laughable suggestion. He has been an assistant at the Dragons during multiple failed regimes and should be held to a decent level of responsibility for the current state the club is in. Hornby is also a questionable candidate given the Dragons history with past club legends. Nathan Brown and Paul McGregor coached a combined 13 seasons for a 151-152 record and no Grand Finals with the biggest concern being how reluctant the club was to move on a club legend – a pitfall the club desperately needs to avoid. Veteran recycled coaches also need to be avoided after the disasters of Griffin and Flanagan that saw the club flooded with washed-up veterans – and one would imagine that would go without saying but you just never know with the Dragons. The Dragons, simply, need to take a chance. The first coach they should be talking to is John Strange, who has done a superb job with the Sydney Roosters NRLW and NSW women’s Origin teams. Matt Peet is unlikely to leave Wigan but is worth a conversation. Smart judges in the game think St Helens boss Paul Rowley is the next great coach. Matt Ballin, Brian McDermott, Aaron Bellamy, Peter Wallace and Matt King are the pick of the current NRL assistants. They may even need to look at the Walker brothers despite the 0-5 start of the Western Clydesdales. The Dragons simply need to break the shackles of their own blinkered thinking and roll the dice.
Watch It: They don’t make Rugby League ads like they did in the 1980s. We all remember the two Tina Turner classics but this ripper that preceded it was utterly fantastic. Watch it from here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsSlHmFi2f8