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Fox League analyst Michael Ennis has declared that Shane Flanagan is “absolutely the man” to take up the coaching vacancy at the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Previous coach Trent Barrett resigned on Monday having overseen a horrific start to the season in which the Bulldogs are equal-last with the Wests Tigers despite an aggressive recruitment drive which netted premiership winners like Josh Addo-Carr, Matt Burton and Tevita Pangai Jr.
Multiple names have come up in rugby league circles as to which coach is likely to take over from Barrett at Belmore, with highly-fancied Penrith Panthers assistant Cameron Ciraldo’s name often coming up in discussions.
But Ennis, who played under Flanagan for two seasons at the Cronulla Sharks, firmly believes the 56-year-old is the perfect fit for the club and pointed to his ability to create an “identity” within a team as a key point of difference that separates him from other candidates.
“We understand that Cameron Ciraldo is highly popular when this comes around and we understand that he’s going to be really patient, it doesn’t sound like a job he wants to be rushed into,” Ennis said.
“Shane Flanagan’s the one for me. I was lucky enough to be coached by Flanno, I don’t think the Bulldogs can look anywhere else.
“You (Benji) stole my word, identity. It’s the one thing Shane knows.
Paul Green, a great candidate won a premiership up there in Townsville. I haven’t been coached by Greeny so I can’t talk on his behalf.
“In all facets of the club, Shane Flanagan delivers as a coach. He knows the identity of his footy side, he keeps the players accountable yet he has great balance in trusting his players and allowing them to play who they are. We hear Trent Robinson talk about young Sam Walker, just wanting him to be Sam Walker. Shane was very much like that.”
Continuing on from allowing players to play the game how they wanted, Ennis recalls a conversation with Flanagan that underpinned that sentiment.
“I came out of a Bulldogs system where under Des there was a real type of game plan that I had to play to,” Ennis said.
“When I got to Cronulla, I said to Shane, ‘How do you want me to play?’
“He said ‘I want you to play the way you love playing. I want you to love the game, I want you to turn up every Saturday and look forward to playing.’
“I felt I played my best football under him.”
Another feather in Flanagan’s cap according to Ennis is his strength in recruiting, a department in which the Bulldogs cannot get wrong in the off-season ahead of 2023.
Ennis highlights the way he brought in a mix of veterans and upcoming stars as yet another reason why Flanagan must get the role along with the way he can communicate effectively to whoever it is.
“You look at the way he built a club at Cronulla, the signings of (Wade) Graham, (Luke) Lewis, (Andrew) Fifita, (Ben) Barba, (James) Maloney,” Ennis said.
“He brought in workers like (Matt) Prior, he had the young youth of (Chad) Townsend and (Jack) Bird.
“He knows what it takes to build a club, but seeing his hands-on approach and his ability to be able to deliver a message to some hard, seasoned first-graders like Paul Gallen and Wade Graham and Luke Lewis then to be able to stay around three, four or five hours later after we’d all gone home and deliver a message but in a more relative way for 16 and 17-year-olds, to know what’s expected of them, to be able to continue through the pathway system, to see his hands on approach with those kids, Shane Flanagan is absolutely the man to coach Canterbury. Absolutely.
“He’s a wonderful NRL coach, a coach I loved playing under and I just think knowing what it takes to be a Bulldog and what we’ve heard this week, Shane delivers that.
“The expectation that we had as a player in the Cronulla jersey is absolutely what Canterbury is all about.”
Previous coach Trent Barrett resigned on Monday having overseen a horrific start to the season in which the Bulldogs are equal-last with the Wests Tigers despite an aggressive recruitment drive which netted premiership winners like Josh Addo-Carr, Matt Burton and Tevita Pangai Jr.
Multiple names have come up in rugby league circles as to which coach is likely to take over from Barrett at Belmore, with highly-fancied Penrith Panthers assistant Cameron Ciraldo’s name often coming up in discussions.
But Ennis, who played under Flanagan for two seasons at the Cronulla Sharks, firmly believes the 56-year-old is the perfect fit for the club and pointed to his ability to create an “identity” within a team as a key point of difference that separates him from other candidates.
“We understand that Cameron Ciraldo is highly popular when this comes around and we understand that he’s going to be really patient, it doesn’t sound like a job he wants to be rushed into,” Ennis said.
“Shane Flanagan’s the one for me. I was lucky enough to be coached by Flanno, I don’t think the Bulldogs can look anywhere else.
“You (Benji) stole my word, identity. It’s the one thing Shane knows.
Paul Green, a great candidate won a premiership up there in Townsville. I haven’t been coached by Greeny so I can’t talk on his behalf.
“In all facets of the club, Shane Flanagan delivers as a coach. He knows the identity of his footy side, he keeps the players accountable yet he has great balance in trusting his players and allowing them to play who they are. We hear Trent Robinson talk about young Sam Walker, just wanting him to be Sam Walker. Shane was very much like that.”
Continuing on from allowing players to play the game how they wanted, Ennis recalls a conversation with Flanagan that underpinned that sentiment.
“I came out of a Bulldogs system where under Des there was a real type of game plan that I had to play to,” Ennis said.
“When I got to Cronulla, I said to Shane, ‘How do you want me to play?’
“He said ‘I want you to play the way you love playing. I want you to love the game, I want you to turn up every Saturday and look forward to playing.’
“I felt I played my best football under him.”
Another feather in Flanagan’s cap according to Ennis is his strength in recruiting, a department in which the Bulldogs cannot get wrong in the off-season ahead of 2023.
Ennis highlights the way he brought in a mix of veterans and upcoming stars as yet another reason why Flanagan must get the role along with the way he can communicate effectively to whoever it is.
“You look at the way he built a club at Cronulla, the signings of (Wade) Graham, (Luke) Lewis, (Andrew) Fifita, (Ben) Barba, (James) Maloney,” Ennis said.
“He brought in workers like (Matt) Prior, he had the young youth of (Chad) Townsend and (Jack) Bird.
“He knows what it takes to build a club, but seeing his hands-on approach and his ability to be able to deliver a message to some hard, seasoned first-graders like Paul Gallen and Wade Graham and Luke Lewis then to be able to stay around three, four or five hours later after we’d all gone home and deliver a message but in a more relative way for 16 and 17-year-olds, to know what’s expected of them, to be able to continue through the pathway system, to see his hands on approach with those kids, Shane Flanagan is absolutely the man to coach Canterbury. Absolutely.
“He’s a wonderful NRL coach, a coach I loved playing under and I just think knowing what it takes to be a Bulldog and what we’ve heard this week, Shane delivers that.
“The expectation that we had as a player in the Cronulla jersey is absolutely what Canterbury is all about.”
