{"id":454291,"date":"2025-06-23T09:58:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T09:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=454291"},"modified":"2025-06-23T23:14:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T23:14:06","slug":"dragons-skippers-telling-admission-on-struggling-halves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=454291","title":{"rendered":"Dragons skipper's telling admission on struggling halves"},"content":{"rendered":"

C\ufefflint Gutherson<\/a> admits there is "pressure" mounting on the Dragons<\/a> halves, despite the comments from coach Shane Flanagan<\/a> last week that his son Kyle was safe.<\/p>\n

Flanagan Jr. has been in the firing line over the past fortnight<\/a>, with St George Illawarra belted by the Dolphins and then run down in the second half by Cronulla.<\/p>\n

With a bye in round 16, the noise has subsided ever so slightly – but the Red V now face a must-win game against Parramatta in a bid to turn their season around.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Wild premiership reality weeks after Panthers looked gone<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Manly boss speaks out over Ennis succession theory<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Training run exposes Manly shake-up; Galvin's uncertain role<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old is expected to retain the halfback position for Saturday's fixture, but the recent form of Lachlan Ilias<\/a> in reserve grade has certainly sparked debate.<\/p>\n

Since being dropped to NSW Cup after a dismal Anzac Day performance, Ilias has led the Dragons to seven-straight victories as they move towards the top of the ladder.<\/p>\n

Despite his form – alongside youngster Jonah Glover – the public sentiment from coach Flanagan is that the current first grade halves weren't under pressure.<\/p>\n

But when asked at a press conference on Monday, co-captain Gutherson was nowhere near as adamant about Flanagan's standing in the No.7 jumper.<\/p>\n

"When you're in the seven jersey, there's always gonna be added pressure," he said.<\/p>\n

"The best way to deal with that is win – if you're winning and playing well and doing your job, the pressure gets off you and people stop talking about you.<\/p>\n

"It's hard and that's nothing to do with me. Lachy has handled the whole situation great, he hasn't kicked stones and hasn't whinged once.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"He's just gone about his business, gone down there and gotten better. He's definitely doing a job down there and putting pressure on and that's what you want.<\/p>\n

"You want in-house pressure for positions. The 17 that gets to play every week is going out there to try and win and if you don't, your position is on the line.<\/p>\n

"It's just about buying into that \u2026 and that's what Lachy is doing to the halves."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Gutherson was then quizzed whether he believes Flanagan and King-Togia were the best halves pairing that the club had to offer.<\/p>\n

"That's above my pay grade," he said.<\/p>\n

"I'm here to play footy, get the boys together and make sure we're ready to go on game day. Picking the team has got nothing to do with me \u2026 I don't want to be a part of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Whoever is in that 17, I'm gonna go out and do a job with them and they'll have my full support. It's not my job to pick the team, it's my job to work with the team that I've got.<\/p>\n

"They are getting better – it takes time, but we don't have time in the NRL and you've got to make things work pretty quickly."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Flanagan has registered four try assists in 13 games this season – the same amount as he did for the entirety of last season when playing five-eighth outside Ben Hunt.<\/p>\n

In less than half the amount of appearances, King-Togia has produced four try assists, while Ilias had just two in seven games before being dropped. \ufeff<\/p>\n

After a clash with Parramatta, the desperate Dragons face a hellacious three weeks with games against the Raiders, Roosters and Bulldogs. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

C\ufefflint Gutherson admits there is "pressure" mounting on the Dragons halves, despite the comments from coach Shane Flanagan last week that his son Kyle was […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":454293,"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\/454291"}],"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=454291"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454297,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454291\/revisions\/454297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/454293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=454291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=454291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=454291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}