Shane Flanagan says St George Illawarra will play finals in 2025, shuts down talk of a rift with Ben Hunt

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Shane Flanagan says St George Illawarra will play finals in 2025, shuts down talk of a rift with Ben Hunt

St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan says he can “guarantee” his team won’t miss finals again next season as he debunked any suggestion he delivered a dressing shed “spray” to star Ben Hunt, easing fears of tension between the pair.

The Dragons need a raft of “miracle” results across the final weekend to play finals, including a draw in Newcastle on Sunday or a victory over Canberra that is 76 points more than a Knights win over the Dolphins.

Flanagan on Friday said he believed in miracles “but not in football”, with a firm focus only on finishing strongly and setting his sights on a return to the playoffs in 2025 when he’ll add Origin star Valentine Holmes to his roster.

Camera IconShane Flanagan said this wasn’t a spray. Credit: News Corp Australia

“To push the score out and that sort of stuff is not important to me,” he said.

“I don’t want to go into all that because it’s pie in the sky. I’m frustrated we won’t play semi-finals.

“To fall at the final hurdle is something we have to address and will address. I can guarantee it won’t happen next year.”

The Dragons have dropped three of their past four games, having ridden a win, loss rollercoaster since round 14 and could miss the finals by a single win, or points differential, depending on other final-round results.

Outside back Savelio Tamale, who is headed to the Raiders next season, will make his NRL debut at Kogarah on Saturday after Jack Bird withdrew through back soreness.

Flanagan conceded it was likely Bird had played his last game for the club, having been granted permission to look elsewhere. Bird met with the Wests Tigers on Tuesday.

But Flanagan rejected suggestions of any breakdown with superstar captain Hunt after dressing-room cameras captured the pair in an animated conversation following last week’s heartbreaking four-point loss to Parramatta, a defeat that ended their run to the finals.

Hunt has wanted out of the Dragons at various stages, but Flanagan said the interaction “wasn’t even close to a spray” and there were no issues between the pair.

“If people are going to comment it was a spray they should be able to lip read,” Flanagan said.

“It wasn’t even close to a spray.

“It was an explanation of what I thought should have happened in the last play of the game, which we had practised.”

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