{"id":374448,"date":"2024-03-09T23:36:48","date_gmt":"2024-03-10T00:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=374448"},"modified":"2024-03-10T01:03:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-10T01:03:43","slug":"why-flanno-was-happy-with-dragons-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=374448","title":{"rendered":"Why Flanno was 'happy' with Dragons criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\ufeffhane Flanagan<\/a> has reacted to the criticism directed towards the Dragons<\/a> in the NRL pre-season, admitting he was "happy" as experts tipped them for the wooden spoon.<\/p>\n

After finishing in the bottom four last year, St George Illawarra completed a sizeable overhaul heading into 2024, with Flanagan coming to the club as head coach and the likes of Luciano Leilua and Hame Sele joining a strong forward pack.<\/p>\n

The side had a mixed trial period, losing the Charity Shield against the Rabbitohs before grabbing a promising win over the Tigers – but perhaps nobody expected the type of performance they delivered against the Titans<\/a> in the opening round of their campaign.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Addo-Carr reveals full extent of shoulder injury<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE:<\/strong> Australia vs New Zealand, day three\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Titans skipper rips 'embarrassing' first-round display\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Despite missing three key players – the aforementioned Leilua and Sele, as well as front-rower Blake Lawrie – \ufeffthe Saints showed a level of resilience that had been missing for many years, turning away continued pressure from Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

In the second half, Tyrell Sloan completed a stellar hat-trick<\/a> as the visitors ran away with a 28-4 win at Cbus Super Stadium, leaving Flanagan impressed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I was sitting back quite happy that people were tipping us to come last, because it won't happen," he told the media post-game.<\/p>\n

"It's been a really good pre-season and the players have worked their butts off. To keep turning the Titans away, at one stage I think they had 45 play-the-balls in our 30 and I think we had 12 in theirs and we just kept turning them away.<\/p>\n

"The biggest challenge with this group is to make sure they start believing in what sort of side they are and it was a good step today.<\/p>\n

"If you look at any side that wins the competition or plays semi-finals, they're in the top three or four defensively and that's where I want to see us."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Flanagan's son Kyle crossed for a crucial try in his Red V debut, while the performances of back-row duo Jaydn Su'A and Raymond Faitala-Mariner will give the coach a welcome headache once their full forward pack is available.<\/p>\n

After spending five years out of a top job following a tumultuous exit from Cronulla, the 58-year-old put the attention back onto his players<\/p>\n

"It's not about me," Flanagan said.<\/p>\n

"It's about the team and they have to start to believe and I thought tonight was a really big step in believing in what type of team we've got."<\/p>\n

St George Illawarra will travel back to Queensland next week to take on the Dolphins. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S\ufeffhane Flanagan has reacted to the criticism directed towards the Dragons in the NRL pre-season, admitting he was "happy" as experts tipped them for the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374448"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=374448"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374456,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374448\/revisions\/374456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/374301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=374448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=374448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=374448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}