Dragons skipper Ben Hunt has given the strongest indication yet Shane Flanagan will be at the helm of the Red V next season, revealing the former Sharks premiership coach told him he at “wanted” to take the job.
Speaking to media after the Dragons survived a late blitz from the Rabbitohs to notch up their fourth win of the season, Hunt confirmed he’d had conversations Flanagan through the week.
”I had a small chat with Flanno (about) his intentions, that he wanted to come in and coach, and if he did get the job, he would want me to play halfback,” Hunt said.
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Flanagan has continued to shorten as favourite to take on the head role at the Dragons following the departure of Anthony Griffin, and the subsequent rejection from Jason Ryles.
Hunt said the Dragons chair Andrew Lancaster and chief executive Ryan Webb were keeping him in the loop.
Flanagan, currently an assistant under Anthony Seibold at the Sea Eagles, has also reportedly met with Dragons chairman Andrew Lancaster and director Ben Creagh.
Flanagan and Hunt have known each other since Flanagan was an assistant under Paul McGregor. He was also Dragons list manager during negotiations of Hunt’s two-year contract extension which is set to keep Hunt at the Dragons until the end of next season.
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In the meantime, Hunt backed interim coach Ryan Carr to remain for the rest of the 2023 season.
“I think it’s got to continue this way … (Carr) is doing a good job, he’s got the locker room down there, the boys appreciate him.
“As you can see, in the last month we’ve been playing some good footy, I don’t think we need to upset that.”
Earlier, the Dragons survived a miraculous late blitz from the Rabbitohs to record just their fourth win of the season.
In front of a sold-out crowd at Kogarah, the Dragons looked to be home and hosed when a Jaiyden Hunt try and Zac Lomax’ subsequent conversion stretched their lead to 22 points with about six minutes to play.
But tries to Jacob Host, Lachlan Ilias and Campbell Graham got the Bunnies within touching distance.
They were on the march again inside the final minute before Siliva Havili spilled it on his own 30m line, ending the miraculous fightback. The Dragons held on 36-30.
Hunt sets Kogarah alight
After the game, Dragons skipper Hunt admitted his side clearly felt the win was in the bag.
Hunt said the message after the Rabbitohs scored the first of those final three tries was to hunker down and complete their sets, but they didn’t get the ball back until there were just 15 seconds to go.
“Souths threw a lot at us, but we needed to be better than that defensively,” he told Fox Sports after the game.
“I think we got a bit comfortable when we got a bit of a lead and we took our foot off. You can’t do that against a good side.”
In a six tries apiece match, the six point difference came down to two elements – Blake Taaffe’s (three from six) lacklustre kicking, and a brain snap from Isaiah Tass minutes after scoring his own try.
A regulation kick from the Dragons put Alex Johnston under some pressure, but Tass decided to escort Zac Lomax off the ball, costing his team a penalty. The Dragons scored off the following play.
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“That was just silly from Tass … textbook example of what an escort is,” Corey Parker said for Fox Sports.
“That’s just dumb. Doesn’t need to do it.”
Despite the late scare, interim Dragons coach Ryan Carr said he would be telling his players to enjoy the win.
”We’ve just got to keep building on it and get better every week,” he said.
The Rabbitohs are yet to have a bye in 2023, and coach Jason Demetriou said his players will benefit greatly from the week off next weekend.
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