Shane Flanagan
| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Shane Flanagan | |||||
| Nickname | Flano[1] | |||||
| Born | 2 December 1965 Sydney, New South Wales | |||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Position | Hooker | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1987 | St. George Dragons | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1989–91 | Western Suburbs Magpies | 42 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 1992–94 | Parramatta Eels | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | 78 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |
| Coaching information | ||||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Gms | W | D | L | W% |
| 2010– | Cronulla Sharks | 137 | 71 | 2 | 64 | 52 |
| Source: [2][3] | ||||||
Shane Flanagan (born 2 December 1965[4]) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach, and current Head Coach of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks . He was appointed assistant coach of NRL team Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in 2006 and was subsequently appointed to the top position when former coach Ricky Stuart resigned on 20 July 2010.[5]
Career
Flanagan played SG Ball, Jersey Flegg and President's Cup for St. George Dragons before his NRL debut for St George in 1987. From 1989 to 1991, he played for Western Suburbs then moved to Parramatta from 1992 to 1994. He retired from playing football following a knee injury and was engaged to coach the Parramatta SG Ball team in 1997.[6] He was assistant coach for the Sydney Roosters for two years alongside Stuart. He has coached the Australian Schoolboys, was assistant coach for Australia in 2007, and was assistant coach under Craig Bellamy of New South Wales from 2007-2010.[5]
In July 2010 Flanagan was instated as Sharks head coach following Ricky Stuart's resignation with six weeks remaining in the 2010 season.
As head coach of the Cronulla Sharks, Flanagan lost his first three games mostly by small margins before a breakthrough win came against premiership contenders the Sydney Roosters in round 23 of the 2010 season. The Sharks won 18-12. The Sharks won one more game in the 2010 season, against top-four team and Greg Bird's new club the Gold Coast Titans whose poor record at Cronulla continued.
In 2012, Flanagan established himself as one of top coach's of the NRL with Cronulla finishing 7th on the ladder by the competition's end. Flanagan built a reputation for signing key players to the club. Having signed Todd Carney the previous year, Flanagan secured the purchases of Beau Ryan and Chris Heighington from the West Tigers, Michael Gordon and Luke Lewis from the Panthers and Jonathon Wright from the Bulldogs. Prior to the 2013 NRL season, fans were predicting Flanagan's Sharks would have an impressive season on the back of the club's new signings.
In 2013, following a year-long investigation into the Sharks' supplements program carried out during the 2011 NRL season, Flanagan was suspended from his role for a period of 12 months.[7]
In 2016 he guided Cronulla to a top four finish. They would travel to Canberra in the first week of the 2016 Finals and record a 14-16 victory thus earning a preliminary final at Allianz Stadium. The Cronulla Sharks would win this preliminary final against the 2015 premiers, the North Queensland Cowboys, by 32-20 thus earning a place in the 2016 Grand Final. On the 2nd of October, the Cronulla Sharks would record a 12-14 victory over the Melbourne Storm and win the Telstra Premiership becoming the first head coach of the Cronulla Sharks to win a premiership.
References
- ↑ Flanagan, Shane (26 September 2008). "Finals feud: Sticky v Bellyache". Australia: Fairfax Media. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ↑ Rugby League Project (player)
- ↑ Rugby League Project (coach)
- ↑ http://www.zerotackle.com.au/rugby-league/nrl/coaches/shane-flanagan/
- 1 2 AAP (20 July 2010). "Stuart quits Sharks". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ↑ Sydney Morning Herald interviewBarrett, Chris (21 July 2010). "Flanagan new head coach". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 Aug 2010.
- ↑ Sharks fined $1m, Flanagan suspended, NRL.com official website, 17 December 2013