A frustrated Shane Flanagan has declared he “will make sure” the Dragons bounce back after a 56-6 demolition at the hands of the Dolphins he labelled not “up to standard”.
The Red V were outplayed from start to finish at Suncorp Stadium, with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Herbie Farnworth, Isaiya Katoa and Connelly Lemuelu running riot.
The Dragons, meanwhile, had no answers and neither did Flanagan when question on what went wrong in the shock result.
“Wish I could tell you mate, a few things wen’t wrong. A few injuries and a few things went bad at the start of the game,” Flanagan said.
“We will have to review it. It just wasn’t up to standard, we can make excuses but we aren’t here to make excuses. It just wasn’t up to standard and we will deal with it.
“It’s disappointing, really disappointing. I’ve just explained that to the group, we will review it. We have a short turnaround so it’s not acceptable for the Dragons.
“We will deal with it internally and review it closely. I haven’t got an answer for your why, I wish I knew.”
Flanagan was asked if the Dragons can make their nightmare display simply a “blip” in their season and he made a big promise.
“I will make sure of it, don’t you worry,” he responded, before being quizzed on how he will go about turning things around.
“That’s my job,” Flanagan said.
The Dragons coach was also quizzed if he would be making any unforced changes to his side, with one omission looming on the wing after Christian Tuipulotu reinjured his hamstring.
“I’ll have a look at it in the morning, I’ve been here long enough to learn we have to be careful after a game, what you say and what you do,” he said.
“Especially in that space so we will review it, see who is available and make a decision then. But there could be.”
As for Tuipulotu, Flanagan was expecting the gun winger to be sidelined for further weeks, returning against the Dolphins in his first appearance since Round 6.
He left the field in the 20th minute, which forced skipper Damien Cook to slot into the centres which caused a disconnect in the Red V backline.
“Hamstrings… it’s something else we need to review. We gave him an extra week and I didn’t see him do too much prior to it,” Flanagan said.
“So it’s really frustrating from a coaches perspective, where it’s an area we aren’t flush with and to lose your winger in the first half, makes it really hard.
“Cooky (Damien Cook) goes out there and does a good job for us but it throws the whole rhythm of the team out and when you aren’t on it doesn’t help.”
Cook, meanwhile, was of the belief his side could turn their fortunes around.
“It’s pretty disappointing the performance we had after we’ve been building nicely. We just didn’t show up today,” he said.
“The best thing looking forward is we need to review it tomorrow, cop our medicine from the coaches but we have a short turnaround.
“And we just have to go out there next week and put a good performance in, get back up there. It’s as simple as that in this game, the comp is too close.
“That loss hurts us a little bit but we have got to show we can do it next week.”
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