Shane Flanagan has owned up to unleashing a spray on his troops before a stunning second-half turnaround saw his St George-Illawarra Dragons beat the Panthers.
The Dragons were nowhere in the first half, but returned from the break almost a completely different side.
They trailed 10-0 at the break, but rallied in the second half to pile on 22 unanswered points and clinch a rare win at Penrith.
FOLLOW LIVE: NRL Round 13 Saturday action
READ MORE: Tedesco on standby after 'devastating' Edwards blow
READ MORE: Tomic quits match after 'uncomfortable couples quarrel'
The lights went out on the Panthers both literally and metaphorically – virtually an entire light tower, as well as a string of lights underneath a grandstand were plunged into darkness moments before players returned to the field for the second half.
The power failure left one corner of the field in darkness, but it wasn't at all needed. Much of the second half was played down the other end in Panthers territory – the three-time premiers barely looking a threat.
"It wasn't pretty … especially to a few individuals," Flanagan said of his half-time spray.
"I was really disappointed with how we played in the first half, turning the football over, it was awful – it was a little bit like the second half against the Bulldogs.
"We needed the break, we needed half time, I needed to get them into a room and to their credit, they responded pretty well.
"You probably only get two or three a year you can use, I've used one."
It was a severely depleted Panthers side that took to the field – five stars were out on Origin duties, plus Nathan Cleary – but the Dragons were also without Ben Hunt and Jaydn Su'A.
Halfback Kyle Flanagan said he and halves partner Jesse Marschke wanted to write their own narrative without Hunt.
"Me and Jessie spoke pregame about that narrative – if Ben Hunt doesn't play, the Dragons aren't any chance to win," he explained.
"That really drove us to come out here and play well tonight.
"It's definitely a team performance, but hopefully we can kick start our season going forward.
"We took a lot of lessons out of last week's game against the Bulldogs. They punched us in the face straight after half time, and that's exactly what we wanted to do tonight.
"The forwards really ran direct in that second half and that set it up for us."
Sione Finau made a line break for the Dragons off the kick-off to start the second half. They then earned back-to-back set restarts, and from there Panthers coach Ivan Cleary believes the momentum was all with the Red V.
"We just couldn't get any momentum, field position, possession, the works," he said.
He lamented a slew of errors at crucial moments, which allowed the Dragons easy escapes before any kind of pressure could be built.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.