Leeds Rhinos continue to be linked with former NRL-winning Cronulla Sharks chief and Australia assistant coach Shane Flanagan as they prepare for a crucial Easter schedule that brings clashes with Huddersfield and Castleford in the next seven days.
The Rhinos are second-bottom of Super League as they prepare to host the Giants on Thursday and visit the Tigers, who knocked them out of the Challenge Cup, on Easter Monday, April 18.
They have suffered six defeats in seven matches, the last two, against Castleford and St Helens, under the caretaker leadership of Jamie Jones-Buchanan, who stepped up when Richard Agar stepped down last month.
Leeds’ sole win was at Wakefield on March 3, and it’s their worst start to a season since 1898, when they finished eleventh in a 16-strong Yorkshire Senior Competition won by Batley.
While it’s early days, there is concern among the fans of a club that has been champions eight times during the summer era, but whose best finish since the last of their titles in 2017 was fifth in both 2020 and last year.
Leeds chief executive Gary Hetherington is currently in Australia as part of the recruitment process, and reports from there say he is interested in appointing 56-year-old former St George Dragons, Western Suburbs and Parramatta Eels hooker Flanagan and signing his 23-year-old son Kyle, the Canterbury Bulldogs halfback.
Shane Flanagan, who is currently working for St George Illawarra, won the NRL Grand Final with Cronulla against Melbourne Storm in 2016. He has also coached the renowned Australian Schoolboys team.
He was right-hand man to Stuart Raper at Castleford in 1997 and has also been an assistant coach at Sydney Roosters and St George as well as for New South Wales.
Having been appointed by Cronulla in 2010, Flanagan was suspended for twelve months by the NRL three years later after an investigation into players’ use of banned supplements.
After resuming his role in 2015, he was stood down again in 2018 for breaching the terms of his earlier suspension. He then linked up with St George, where he began his NRL playing career.
Leeds, who have also been linked with former Featherstone coach Ryan Carr, who had a spell working at Headingley when in the UK and is currently on the staff at Parramatta, will have hooker Brad Dwyer and New Zealand international forward Zane Tetevano back from suspensions against Huddersfield.
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