{"id":387223,"date":"2024-04-22T20:37:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=387223"},"modified":"2024-04-22T22:04:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T22:04:43","slug":"gallens-surprise-call-on-absolute-monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=387223","title":{"rendered":"Gallen's surprise call on 'absolute monsters'"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\ufefft's been a long time since there's been this much joy at St George Illawarra<\/a>, with the influence of new coach Shane Flanagan<\/a> paying off for the club.<\/p>\n

After over a decade of mediocrity with very few glimmers of hope, Dragons fans have finally had something to cheer about in 2024, with the side winning four games from its opening seven matches to put itself in the mix for the top eight.<\/p>\n

Their latest effort – which saw Flanagan's side dismantle premiership contenders the Warriors 30-12 in round seven – has sparked plenty of excitement in Wollongong and extremely rare scenes of jubilation at WIN Stadium.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Piastri fires up at F1 villain after Ricciardo crash<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Exit 'rumblings' reveal Storm star wants out<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Geyer slams Knights' call to risk Ponga with 'limp'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

And that level of excitement has even crept up the Princes Highway \ufeffand into the Shire, with Cronulla legend Paul Gallen<\/a> full of praise for his old rivals, even tipping them for an unlikely finals berth this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"They are a good team and I think they are a big chance of the top eight," he said on Nine's 100% Footy<\/em> on Monday night.<\/p>\n

"Their team up close and in person, their outside backs are the biggest blokes I've seen in my life, they are absolute monsters. They are powerful, they get their sets started well and they really help their forwards out.<\/p>\n

"Flanno is doing a great job as coach and [Kyle] Flanagan at halfback is doing a great job just controlling the team around the park. Ben Hunt is on fire at the moment and Zac Lomax is playing the best football of his career.<\/p>\n

"As a club, Flanno has just made them happier – you can see that they like playing for each other and that's what Flanno does as a coach."<\/p>\n

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

Flanagan and Gallen have a close relationship from their time together at the Sharks, which saw the team win their maiden premiership in 2016, and there's very few players who know exactly what the coach can bring to a side.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Players who have lacked confidence in the past such as ac Lomax and Tyrell Sloan are now brimming with it, while the return to form of Jaydn Su'A has put the enforcer back in the mix for a State of Origin spot. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe 58-year-old coach has even managed to change the mind of veteran halfback Ben Hunt<\/a>, who was desperate to leave the Red V last year and is now weighing up an extension.<\/p>\n

St George Illawarra \ufeffwill take on the Roosters in the annual Anzac Day blockbuster on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

100% Footy is now available as a podcast! Subscribe\/follow via<\/strong><\/em> Apple<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,<\/strong><\/em> Spotify<\/strong><\/em><\/a> or<\/strong><\/em> Google Podcasts<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\ufefft's been a long time since there's been this much joy at St George Illawarra, with the influence of new coach Shane Flanagan paying off […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":387225,"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\/387223"}],"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=387223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":387228,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387223\/revisions\/387228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/387225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=387223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=387223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=387223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}