NRL great James Maloney says Shane Flanagan only has himself to blame as the Dragons find themselves in a major crisis, winless in their last 10 matches.
The 2016 premiership-winning coach’s job is under major threat amid six-straight losses to start the season, and the news that Jaydn Su’A won’t be there in 2027, and young gun Loko Pasifiki Tonga wants out has only compounded his woes.
And as they prepare to face South Sydney on Saturday, Maloney unloaded on the man who was his coach during his premiership triumph at the Sharks, stating he has got it all wrong, from recruitment to tactics.
“To win football games you have to play to the strengths of your roster,” Maloney said on The Extended Bench.
“If I look at the Dragons and the roster they’ve established and the guys they’ve signed. They’ve signed Damien Cook a running 9, Clint Gutherson an unreal support player through the middle, David Klemmer a big body to get you going forward.
“They’ve got really powerful back rowers in (Jaydn) Sua and (Luciano) Leilua yet when I watch their football, they play one of the more sideways brands of football I’ve seen.
“Why do you bring these players to your club and (then) not play to your strengths and the results on the field show for itself. They don’t look like winning.
“ … I don’t understand the recruitment, based on how they’re playing. When you’re recruiting players, you’re looking at how you’re going to play rugby league with your group, where you need to find, you know, new players or you’ve got holes and that to fill.
“I just don’t think they’re playing to their strengths and I don’t think you can win games if you don’t play to your strengths and your style of play is determined through your coaching staff isn’t it.”
You can watch his full comments in the player at the top of the page.
Pasifiki Tonga’s request for an early release was denied by the club this week amid the hulking forward’s growing frustrations about not getting a crack.
The young forward scored a try and ran for a whopping 252 metres in reserve grade last week, but has not been able to crack the winless Dragons’ first-grade side. And Maloney sympathises with the youngster and believes the fact players are growing agitated in reserve grade speaks volumes.
“I sat for two years in reserve grade and I had those feelings that’s why I went down to Melbourne,” Maloney said on The Extended Bench.
“I think around coaching the good coaches have a really good line of communication and so you know where you stand.
“If you’re a coach and you’re upfront and honest people might not like what they’re told but they’ll respect it. Then they don’t sit there going what do I do where do I go.”
Meanwhile, speaking about the drama with Pasifiki Tonga, Flanagan explained his intentions were to always get his rising star match fit by giving him big minutes in NSW Cup.
“I signed and re-signed Loko and have a high opinion of him,” Flanagan said.
“Some of the commentary around it was pretty unfair on the club because at the club we value him because he’s a 20-year-old front-rower who we’re looking after.
“There’s so much outside noise at the moment, but the playing group have been really good. They’ve been solid, they understand what’s going on and understand to stop the noise, you need to go and win a football game.
“We’ve had a reasonable week. There’s been a lot of noise, but we can’t control that. We’ve knuckled down and trained hard, and we trained well this morning. That’s all I can hope for to ask them to come to training and prepare well.”
You can watch all new episodes of news.com.au’s The Extended Bench every week on YouTube.
