Flanagan replaced Cooper Cronk as halfback last year and seemed to perform decently, yet was dropped briefly before being axed with two years remaining on his contract.<\/p>\n
"It definitely [affected] my confidence during the year when I thought I was playing really well and I was the [competition's] top points scorer, then I didn't play two games out of nowhere," Flanagan told The Sun-Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n "I look back now going, 'What the hell was going on there?'<\/p>\n "I was pretty proud with how I responded to that and finished off the season.<\/p>\n "I remember [Robinson] saying to me, 'You're not playing poorly, we just want you to improve'.<\/p>\n "It was quite confusing. We were winning through that whole period there. I went back, trained hard, got back in the team and played well. I thought it was all part of the development.<\/p>\n "That was the most frustrating thing. I signed with the Roosters to grow and develop into the role over the next few years. Then to be told a year later that plan isn't there any more, that was the hardest pill to swallow."<\/p>\n Robinson, a triple premiership winner, gave Flanagan his marching orders in a post-season one-on-one interview. He joined Canterbury on a three-year deal<\/a>, while the Roosters retained Lachlan Lam, Drew Hutchison and Sam Walker as potential replacements; or alternatively, they could play Luke Keary at halfback and bring in a hard-running player at five-eighth.<\/p>\n Flanagan, 22, said that he was glad to have signed with the Bulldogs under new coach Trent Barrett.<\/p>\n The goal-kicking halfback will work alongside the likes of Lachlan Lewis, Brandon Wakeham and Jake Averillo this year, before Penrith prodigy Matt Burton arrives for the 2022 season<\/a> with the expectation that he'll play five-eighth.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n