Everybody at St George Illawarra knows what needs to be done and now they’ve declared it’s time to do it.
The elephant in the Dragons dressing room last season was their attack, and lack thereof it, scoring just 474 points en route to a second-last finish.
The justified criticism was the attack had become too one-dimensional, with the side always looking to captain and halfback Ben Hunt to come up with the play.
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But if the Red V are going to compete for a finals berth in 2024 under new coach Shane Flanagan, the players know that must change.
To discover how the club plans on solving the problem, foxsports.com.au interviewed the coach and four of the club’s most important attacking players – halves Hunt and Kyle Flanagan, and outside backs Tyrell Sloan and Zac Lomax.
Hunt kicked things off by emphasising the entire club had to take responsibility for scoring more points.
“It’s on everyone, it’s not just two or three guys,” Hunt said
“It’s right from the coaches down and the structures we play and how we execute it.
“Your forwards have got to be running the right lines, they’ve got to make good decisions with the ball and then so does your hooker.
“This pre-season we’ve put a lot of trust in players to make those (correct) decisions and really just playing some footy, so hopefully we can balance it out.”
Five-eighth Flanagan was pleased with the Dragons’ opening 40 minutes against the Rabbitohs in the Charity Shield last weekend, but conceded there was still plenty to work on.
The 25-year-old joined the club from the Bulldogs this summer to play under his father and said he’s already learned plenty from Maroons and Kangaroos star Hunt.
“Just watching him at training and how he demands the ball, how he runs the balls, watching him go to work is what I’ve learnt the most. I’m looking to build that combination,” Flanagan Jr said.
“The weekend was a good start in the first 40 minutes to show what the Dragons are gonna be in 2024 and the style of footy we want to play is hardworking and fighting to the death.
“We want to be known as that kind of team… but I also think we’ll build our belief that we can unlock talent in our footy team and as the season goes on we’ll evolve as a footy team and work out what our strengths are.
“There’s plenty to improve on but I’m feeling good going into Round 1.”
Coach Flanagan agreed the Dragons’ attack was too predictable in 2023 and backed his son to help change things by freeing up Hunt.
“Last year Ben Hunt was, especially in attack, the centrepiece of it all,” he said.
“I’d like to think Kyle can get the ball to Jaydn Su’A and Moses Suli and our strike players on the edges. We need to get them more football and that will be Kyle’s main job description.
“Then Ben can flip from both sides of the field and play what he sees a little bit more, but Kyle will get the balls to our strike players and that will be his job.
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“If everyone does their job (then) the job will get done. You can’t be pinning hopes or expectations on any one individual and I’ll be getting that message across to Dragons supporters from day one that this is a team and it’s not about any one individual.”
Fullback Sloan also backed Flanagan Jr to take the load off Hunt while also vowing to inject himself more in attack.
“With Flanno in the halves now it helps Benny Hunt out a lot,” Sloan said.
“He’s a similar player where he plays on ball so it takes a lot more pressure off Benny when he wants to play secondary and with myself I just will continue to play off the back of my halves because that’s my job, but hopefully I’ll be stepping up in some other areas as well.
“Flanno and Benny are working out their combinations in the middle and my job is finishing off the secondary attack.
“I’d say I’m pretty quick and I guess I rely on that in games. I always look to play eyes up footy and when there’s a middle in front of me I’ll try and beat him on the outside, but that’s everybody if you’re a faster bloke.”
Lomax is one of the most exciting players in the NRL on his day but the error-prone centre has been relegated to the wing for now.
Lomax loves a flick pass and when it comes off the crowd goes wild, but when it produces a turnover it’s an immediate coach killer.
“If it’s there you throw it, that’s just the chance you take. You’ve got to be confident in throwing it,” Lomax said.
“I don’t really think about it, if it’s there and it’s the right time, I throw it.
“I back it more times than not that it comes off because I’ve got someone like Mika (Ravalawa) who has always played outside me and only needs a little bit of space and he finishes it off.
“He’s a big human and he gets the job done and scores the try more often than not. It’s just instinct and we’ve built a really good relationship, but you’ve just gotta have the confidence to do it.”
Lomax emphasised he’d “love to” get closer to the action to help take the pressure off Hunt, but said that will be tough to achieve from the wing.
“I’d love to but it sort of depends on where I’m playing too. It’s hard to dictate if I’m standing out wide,” he said.
“Kyle has come in, Jesse Marschke had a really good performance in the Charity Shield. I thought it was positive signs moving forward.
“Benny definitely takes a lot of ownership on that too. He’s vocal about wanting the players to step up too and be that second hand for him too and help him out.
“Obviously Sloany is playing No. 1, he’s got good hands and he competes and I’m sure he can help Dozer (Hunt) out there.”
