Dragons’ Flanagan Under Fire as Son’s Halves Pairing Fails to Deliver

The future of Shane Flanagan’s long-term contract with the St. George Illawarra Dragons is under scrutiny as the team struggles to demonstrate improvement despite his extension through 2028. The Dragons, who finished 15th in the 2025 NRL season, have begun the 2026 season with three consecutive losses, raising questions about the viability of Flanagan’s tenure.

Concerns center on Flanagan’s continued reliance on a halves pairing of his son, Kyle Flanagan and Daniel Atkinson. Despite the team’s offensive difficulties, Flanagan has shown no indication of altering the combination. “The reason they extended Flanagan at the end of last year was supposedly to create stability, it hasn’t created stability,” Fox League’s Paul Crawley stated on NRL 360. “For the life of me I can’t understand when they’d finished 15th last year why they had to extend him after that until 2028. There was no one beating down the door.”

The Dragons’ recent 20-16 loss to the Parramatta Eels highlighted the offensive issues, with the team squandering multiple opportunities to secure a win. Crawley emphasized that the core problem remains the performance of the halves. “They’ve got two halves that aren’t getting the job done,” he said. The scrutiny surrounding Kyle Flanagan’s position has been met with accusations of unfairness, but Crawley maintains that the current situation is unsustainable. “At the moment, it’s still not working.”

Atkinson’s transition to the halfback role has similarly drawn criticism, given his limited experience. At 25, he is younger than Kyle Flanagan, 27, and has significantly fewer first-grade appearances. Atkinson joined the Dragons specifically for the opportunity to establish himself as an NRL halfback, having been behind Nicho Hynes and Braydon Trindall at the Cronulla Sharks, according to The Daily Telegraph’s Dave Riccio. “The reason Daniel Atkinson left the Sharks was to be a starting halfback in the NRL,” Riccio noted. “The Dragons gave him that opportunity of his dream to be a starting halfback in the NRL. He’s three games into that journey.”

However, Crawley argues that the issue isn’t solely Atkinson’s adjustment, but rather Kyle Flanagan’s unsuitability for the five-eighth position. “Kyle Flanagan is not a five-eighth. When he took the line on the other day, he didn’t have the strength, the size, the speed to gain through,” Crawley explained. He contrasted Flanagan’s lack of power with what a traditional five-eighth, like Ethan Strange, would be capable of.

Beyond the halves, questions are being raised about the Dragons’ overall recruitment strategy under Flanagan. While the signing of Keaon Koloamatangi for the 2027 season is viewed positively, Crawley points to a pattern of acquiring players at the end of their careers, including Clint Gutherson, Damien Cook, and Valentine Holmes. “What we have is where their recruitment’s not right,” Crawley said. “Since Flanagan’s arrived he’s bought Clint Gutherson… Gutho has been a tremendous competitive player over the stretch of his career, but he is getting towards the back end.”

Riccio countered that the veteran signings were intended to provide leadership during a rebuilding phase, but Crawley remains unconvinced, suggesting the extension offered to Flanagan was premature. Flanagan has not publicly addressed the criticism of his recruitment or the performance of his son, and Atkinson.

Crawley concluded by expressing concern about the Dragons’ offensive limitations. “At the start of the season, I had concerns when I looked at the Dragons and I’m thinking to myself, of all the rosters in the competition, when it comes to attack, I consider they’re the most limited,” he said. “And yet he’s got halves there, who they created so many opportunities there the other day and it won’t perform.”