Flanagan channels 'The Grey Flash' to land St George Illawarra head coaching role

It was only a month ago, Flanagan himself said he still desired a return to head coaching, but that it "won't be at St George Illawarra." That's rugba league, things can turn on a dime.

With that in mind, we're unlikely to hear the Dragons declaring it any time soon. Tuesday's development amounts to a board endorsement, the final appointment remains subject to terms.

Given how negotiations with initially preferred candidate Jason Ryles fell over at the final hurdle, the club would be wise to avoid declaring it until the ink's dry.

In reality, Flanagan firmed to favouritism the minute Ryles turned the club down and he knew it. It may prove the best thing that could have happened, on a number of fronts.

Read more: Young guns back interim boss as end to Dragons coaching saga looms

Plenty have people have stated the scale of the rebuild required in Wollongong is not the job for a rookie, even one as well-credentialed as Ryles.

Reports conflict on the reasons why Ryles opted not to take the job. Some suggest the club was willing to employ a rookie, but not hand over all aspects of the football department to one.

Others - chiefly the club itself - suggest that, the further Ryles got down the path to taking the job, the greater the task seemed to be. To hear the club tell it, it was a task he didn't yet feel ready for.

As it often does, the truth likely resides somewhere in the middle.

Having pitched that narrative, though, the club was facing a major PR fallout had it opted for another rookie. Being rejected by one who lived just up the road was bad enough.

It brought Flanagan back into the frame, though plenty still thought a return to head coaching would never happen. There were others who thought it never should, some apparently sitting on the St George side of the Dragons board.

It was the same board that rubber-stamped his employment as an assistant coach and as a list management consultant - but hey, go figure.

It was complicated further by a club set-up that stipulates a vote on the head coach must be unanimous and, on Flanagan, opinions are never unanimous; never will be either.

In fairness, the Dragons were not the only club to hold reservations.

All the factors that make Flanagan virtually custom-made for the Dragons job existed at the Bulldogs and the Tigers when they were on the lookout for a new coach.

The former went for Cameron Ciraldo, the Ryles 'coach-in-waiting-type', while the latter brought back the bloke they sacked a decade ago - albeit a coaching legend in Tim Sheens.

Flanagan clearly sensed his opportunity when the Ryles deal fell through. He made a public pitch, speaking about his time at Cronulla, both the supplements scandal and the way he dragged a club off its knees and took it to a maiden premiership. The Sharks have been perennial finalists' since.

He also made it clear he wasn't interested in a formal interview process, and rightly so. Whatever you feel about him or what occurred in the early days of his Sharks reign, everything's already out there, the good, bad and ugly.

There were some who saw a bit of the latter in the call made to Ben Hunt to discuss his future prior to even getting the job. Some felt it was indicative of the bulldozer approach that had tripped him up in the past. For others, it's the exact to-the-point approach the club needs.

It's how Flanagan does things and, as evidenced by his time at the helm of the Sharks, it works. While the Ryles courtship revealed everything that needs to be put in place to employ a first-time NRL coach, you could give Flanagan two sticks to rub together and he'd back himself to light a fire.

If you gave one of those whiz-bang AI things dot points - NRL experience, premiership success, club-builder, development coach, recruitment clout - and said 'find me a coach' Flanagan would pop up on your screen in a second.

Read more: Hunt confirms talks with Flanagan as Dragons see off Rabbitohs

His resume speaks for itself. As such, prostrating himself in front of a board that's presided over a decade of mediocrity and apologising all over again wasn't something he was interested in doing, especially once it became apparent the club needed him a lot more than he needed it.

That's not to say he didn't need the Dragons. It could well have been his last throw of the dice. If he'd been passed over for this gig, there's every reason to wonder if he'd ever return to the head coaching ranks.

It could be a case of the puzzle pieces quite accidentally falling into place. A club that missed out on its first choice desperate enough to hand a bloke what amounts to a third chance.

In this instance, that bloke appears the right man for the job by every measure barring the baggage.

On that score, Flanagan started well back in the race carrying the most weight on his back... but so did Chatauqua that glorious afternoon at Randwick.

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