Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has sensationally walked out of his post-match press conference as his side’s finals hopes hang by a thread following their 44-40 loss to the Eels.
Had the Dragons won they were a strong chance to earn a place in the finals but they looked anything but a side pushing for the eight as one of the competition’s cellar dwellers blew them off the park.
Flanagan’s side were down 26-6 at half time and were never in the contest despite a late-game charge that saw them score four tries in the final nine minutes.
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A raspy-voiced Flanagan looked physically ill as he fronted the press as he tried to piece together how things went so wrong when his side had everything to play for.
“It was a disgraceful first half. I apologise to the Dragons fans, sponsors, it just wasn’t good enough,” Flanagan said.
“I have to take ownership of that and it’s just not good enough for a Red V jersey. That first 40 minutes was unacceptable.
“We were terrible. Absolutely terrible. Looked like it was our first day together.”
Heading into the match in eighth place, the Dragons’ poor for and against (-124) means they are guaranteed to drop out of the eight this round.
The winner of the Broncos and Dolphins will take their place.
How the Dragons turn Saturday’s disastrous performance around quickly is anyone’s guess and they must win their final round match against the Raiders at home on Saturday to be any chance of featuring in September.
“From a coaching perspective you try and put it behind you and try and encourage the turnaround but inside of you is burning,” Flanagan said.
‘But you’ve got to try and do the right thing as a coach and try and encourage a turnaround.
“We were still in it, sorry, I thought we could still win at half time and we come out of half time and they went try-try again.
“It just continued and all of a sudden something changed but I’m not going to step away from it – it’s unacceptable.
“There’ll be a lot better Dragons teams performances. As I said I apologise for today but stick with us.”
Dragons captain Ben Hunt was perplexed at his side’s woeful performance in a game that could have gone a long way to helping the club secure their first finals berth since 2018.
“Very disappointed it’s all there for us to go and get it as we push to the finals but to toss up a performance like that in the first half is not acceptable – myself included,” Hunt said.
“It’s not NRL standard.
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“Didn’t see it coming, thought we had a good preparation. It was just right from that first set.”
Flanagan said he took no comfort from the deceptive scoreline after his side’s late charge.
“We can use that as an excuse. I can dissect many, many different ways but the first half wasn’t acceptable for this jersey and we need to be accountable for it,” he said.
“The score in the end gave us hope ‘oh we only got beaten by four pints’. No I’m not going to cop that.
“Unless I go to local A Grade and get some players I won’t be making any changes.”
Flanagan then refused to take more questions and walked away from the media scrum.
“I don’t want to be rude but I’ve had enough. Thank you,” he said.
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