Here is the thing though, in 2018 that wasn't the case. He was a stand out in 21 games for Newtown Jets, so much so that he and Blayke Brailey made the Australian U20s, Kyle captained the NSW U20s, and was named ISP halfback of the year, with Newtown making it to the GF.
In that season Flanno ranked 9th in ISP for "line engaged" runs, averaging more per game than blokes like Tyson Gamble, Chanel Harris-Tevita and Will Kennedy. That isn't a player who is a robot with no running game.
He ranked 8th for support play, 10th for try assists. Of course stats never tell the whole story, but I watched about 5 or 6 of his games that season and my thought at the time was "this guy is an instinctive player".
Flanno is further proof that the gap between second tier and NRL is too big, and that the majority of players have to be carefully managed in their transition from reggies. Young players obviously want to play in NRL, so they aren't going to say no when a team tells them they can have a starting spot in their NRL team, they are going to say yes, I've got this, I can do it. When the chooks signed Flanno to be their Cronk replacement he had played a handful of NRL games for the Sharks.
There is an instinctive eyes up playmaker somewhere inside Kyle Flanagan, but no one at NRL level has been able to encourage it to come out. Either this is it for him, or he the right people get around him and he rediscovers the way he was playing in 2018. I don't really hold much hope for him in 2022 with us, because the reality is that giving him the time and space to come good would mean putting a lot more pressure on Burton, who though seems destined for big things, is yet to prove himself in the halves across half a season, let alone a whole one. We don't need to be piling too much pressure on Burts either.
