Shane Flanagan is officially back chalking up wins in the NRL.
After a five-year hiatus, the new Dragons coach enjoyed a stunning return with a thumping 28-4 win on the Gold Coast thanks to a hat-trick from fullback Tyrell Sloan.
Conversely, the Des Hasler era at the Titans is off to a shocker, with plenty of the side’s bad habits from last year still rearing their heads.
Sloan crossed for the first try on the Gold Coast after backing up new recruit Raymond Faitala-Mariner and racing through and score in the third minute.
But after a string of errors from the visitors, the Titans hit back when Tom Weaver put a smart grubber in for speedster Alofiana Khan-Pereira in the 35th minute.
The Dragons created plenty more chances in the first half but they also came up with more mistakes, and despite leading the error count 9-2 they were ahead 6-4 at the break.
But it was all St George Illawarra in the second half as they blew the Titans off the park with four unanswered tries.
Kyle Flanagan put a huge smile on his father’s face after the coach’s son scored a classy solo try in the second half.
Flanagan threw a big dummy and crossed the line almost untouched almost untouched and then celebrated passionately pointing to his badge.
Zac Lomax was filthy after coach Flanagan moved him to the wing this season, but he had a blinder with a career-high 255 run metres and a try.
