‘I know a few of their weaknesses’: Shane Flanagan puts friendships aside as Dragons desperately seek bounce back against Manly

Shane Flanagan and Anthony Seibold will put their friendship to the side for Saturday’s crucial game in Wollongong, with the Dragons coach desperate for his side to recapture the defensive resolve they showed in round 1.

The pair worked together in 2023, with Flanagan in charge of Manly’s attack before he accepted the job at St George Illawarra.

“They had a really good attack coach last year so he did a really good job with them. The bloke that came in this year – Michael Ennis – he’s done nothing,” Flanagan joked.

“They’ve always been a quality team.

“I know their strengths and I know a few of their weaknesses, but it’s very hard to input all of that information into a playing group that just has to go out and do what we do best.

“If you start to get too worried about the strengths of Manly (you can get in trouble), so we should just concentrate on ourselves this weekend.”

Flanagan said he wasn’t focusing on the opposition after back-to-back heavy defeats.

“I really enjoyed my year at Manly working with some top-quality people like Daly Cherry-Evans who I’d never worked with before,” he said.

“That was great, and it’s the same here. It gives me the passion for coaching and I love working with this group here.

“I’m not talking about friends tomorrow. We’ve just got to get two competition points, and I’ll do anything to get them.”

The rival coaches will probably catch up in the sheds after the game, but Seibold says pleasantries will be parked for 80 minutes.

“I’ve got nothing but respect for ‘Flanno’ but I’ll leave the chats until after the game,” he said.”

Saturday could well prove who the real Dragons are in 2024, with the Red V opening up with an encouraging win on the Gold Coast before they slipped back into old habits by conceding 84 points in their past two losses.

“We need to play like we did in the first game. We need to save tries and defend well,” Flanagan said ahead of a showdown with a team that can score from anywhere.

“All good sides are based around their defence, and we showed in the first game that we can do that and on the back of that score points.

“The last two games, we haven’t defended well. If you don’t defend well then you don’t win football games.”