Dean Young Appointed as Interim Coach of the Dragons
Dean Young has been named as the interim coach of the St George Illawarra Dragons following the sacking of Shane Flanagan. Young, a former premiership winner and assistant under Flanagan, will take charge for the remainder of the 2026 season.
The Dragons made the announcement at a press conference on Monday morning, but at that time, they had not yet confirmed an interim coach. That changed later in the day at 6:15pm.
“It’s a privilege to lead this club,” Young said in a club statement. “This current group of players mean a lot to me. I want to support them through this transition. Our focus right now is staying connected as a team and being the best version of ourselves on Anzac Day.”
Dragons CEO Tim Watsford expressed his confidence in Young, stating that he “understands this club better than most” and that support for him is the priority. However, the decision to appoint Young came after NSW Blues coach Laurie Daley warned him against taking the role due to leaks over the weekend that the board was split on appointing him.
“They’re leaking that… Why would you want the interim role? There’s nothing to gain when they’re leaking stuff about you. I’ll tell you what, though — he’ll get a job somewhere,” Daley said on Sky’s Big Sports Breakfast.
The Board’s Response and Internal Struggles
Earlier, the chairman of St George Illawarra took a swipe at the media and hit back at claims that he had sacked Flanagan despite the coach’s contract being torn up. Club boss Andrew Lancaster repeatedly claimed it was a “mutual decision” after meeting with Flanagan at his home on Sunday, the day after the Red V suffered an 11th consecutive loss.
Flanagan has been dumped despite signing a contract extension late last season, which had not even been activated yet. Lancaster and club CEO Tim Watsford fronted the media at the new high performance centre in Wollongong.
Having also sacked head of football Ben Haran, Lancaster said there had been several “emotional” meetings with staff on Monday morning. “They are good people under a significant amount of pressure,” he said. “To our fans, members and supporters, our performance is not to your expectation. It is not to our expectation, and we are clearly taking steps to address this.”
“We’ve got to this position as a club and we will get out of this position as a club. We are all accountable for where we are – players, coaching staff, management, and the board. We understand your frustration, and we understand your right to express that frustration, to a point. The results haven’t been there, we know we are in a challenging period. It’s one we will work our way through.”
A History of Change and Challenges
Flanagan becomes the second NRL coach sacked this season, after Manly dumped Anthony Seibold after just three games. The Dragons are yet to win a game through seven rounds in 2026.
Flanagan – who coached Cronulla to an NRL premiership a decade ago – took the reins in 2024 after Anthony Griffin was sacked as coach. The Dragons also sacked Paul McGregor prior to that. The team has not played finals since 2018.
In his address to media on Monday, Lancaster, who is a director on the board at Nine, the owner of this publication, took a swipe at journalists and confirmed Flanagan’s mental health has been suffering in recent weeks.
“There has been a lot of media coverage over the Dragons these last few weeks – a lot of it absolutely deserved, some of it poor, and some of it about personal agendas,” he said. “I’ve been in media longer than most. Our coverage of this great game, of this club, should be better. Readers, viewers, and listeners deserve better.”
“When asked by 9News journalist Danny Weidler to clarify his comments, Lancaster said, ‘I didn’t say it was unfair, I said a lot of it was poor, and there were some personal agendas being dealt with along the way’.”
Kyle Flanagan’s Situation and Future Support
Flanagan’s son Kyle is now in a sticky situation given he’s the Dragons halfback, and many have been calling for him to be dropped from the team. Last season, the coach stubbornly refused to dump his own son despite ongoing poor performances.
Watsford said the club will need to support Kyle over the coming weeks. “Kyle’s a contracted player through to the end of 2027, and we will provide any means possible to support Kyle,” Watsford said. “It hasn’t been great, how they’ve both been treated, but we will continue to wrap our arms around them.”
The Dragons next face the Roosters on Anzac Day.
