No love lost in return of the 'king' to Shark Park
Shane Flanagan returns to take on the Sharks for the first time since winning the club’s only title.
It may be more than seven years since his crowning glory with Cronulla but Shane Flanagan is still eager to claim the title of king of the Shire.
The St George coach makes his first return to Shark Park a beaten man after a nasty hiding from the Sydney Roosters.
But that didn’t stop the 58-year-old from laying the boot into the club he helped secure its maiden premiership in 2016.
“It (the Sharks game) has been marked in the calendar for a while,” Flanagan said.
“It won’t be an emotional week, no, I won a comp there. I don’t think they’ve won one since, have they?”
While not the first time Jack Bird has returned to his old club, this derby carries extra significance for the boy from the Illawarra.
Sunday’s game will be the centre’s 150th NRL appearance – a “full-circle moment” at the ground where it all began, he told reporters on Tuesday.
It was more of a soft spot for his coach, he mused, with Flanagan’s exit from the Sharks on the eve of the 2019 season still fresh in his memory.
“He’d be pretty excited to get back there and tell all his mates … that he’s still the king of the Shire,” Bird said.
“Hopefully we get a win for him and for the team.”
But there’s no time to get misty-eyed for Bird and the rest of the flock, who have a statement to make after shipping 60 points against the Roosters during Anzac round.
“It’s kind of embarrassing as a collective,” he said.
The Dragons have shown promise this season. They looked convincing in defeating a hot New Zealand outfit, and started well against the Roosters before falling away.
“Once we find the consistency I think that we will be a very dangerous team,” Bird said.
New winger Christian Tuipulotu will have Eels-bound Zac Lomax backing him up on the inside, with the stop-gap winger shifted into the centres to cover for the injured Moses Suli.
After tough tests against the Warriors and the Roosters in his first two outings for the club, Tuipulotu faces another challenge containing the ladder-leading Sharks and top tryscorer Ronaldo Mulitalo.
“Every team is hard to beat on their day … but if we can stick to the plan we can get the job done,” he said.