‘I’ll become one of the weak ones’: Flanno pressed on ref shockers in Dragons’ horror loss

Shane Flanagan refused to use injuries or another couple of shocking referee calls as an excuse for his side’s 40-0 thrashing by Souths in Round 25.

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The Dragons struggled up front without three forwards due to concussions from the loss to the Warriors, while they were on the wrong end of a missed forward pass from Tallis Duncan and a missed sin bin for a professional foul from Ashton Ward.

“Look, I could use that as an excuse and you’re right on some of it, but Souths had a shorter turnaround than us,” Flanagan said of the injuries.

“They’ve got injuries, so we’re not tossing up any excuses. If I start tossing up excuses, I’ll become one of the weak ones.”

Flanagan was pressed on what was the reason for the Dragons’ lacklustre display after showing plenty of fight in recent months.

“You hit the nail on the head we could put it down to lots of things, but the opposition didn’t give us a chance to breathe,” Flanagan said.

“They were outstanding with the football and we were the opposite. We turned the ball over, didn’t play it properly, knock-ons, all that type of stuff and then that led to missed tackles, fatigue led to missed tackles.

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“So the opposition were very good and we played them into that. I looked at Souths at the end. They looked fresh. They were on the front foot, so they should be and we were out in our feet.”

Flanagan wouldn’t be drawn on the two referee decisions that went against his side.

“That wasn’t why we won or lost, so I’m not going to get into that,” Flanagan said.

Dragons skipper Damien Cook was asked about the forward pass from Duncan, which gifted Alex Johnston his 210th NRL try.

“I know it didn’t decide the result, but it looked pretty blatant,” the reporter said.

“Well you’ve been an expert for a long time and I reckon you’re right,” Cook said.

Cook was pressed on why the Dragons were so poor given they have been punching above their weight all season.

“It’s pretty disappointing to be honest,” Cook said.

“We were playing some good footy and no matter the injuries, it’s exciting watching these young guys come in, so we had plenty to play for the jersey to finish off the season well.

“We can take that momentum and tonight we just didn’t turn up. The first 20 we did. I feel like we went toe-to-toe with them there and they took 20 minutes to score their first try.

“But then after that there was just a few errors and penalties and we went back to old ways where we just didn’t defend that and let in a try.

“By the end of it they were playing with a lot of confidence when we were out in our feet.”

In some good news for the Dragons, Flanagan said he expects up to three forwards back next week, including Jack de Belin and Hame Sele.

“Both of them should be back,” Flanagan said.

“I think they are progressing pretty well through their concussion protocols, and Jaydn Su’A might be an outside chance as well, so they will be welcome returns.”