‘No favours’: Why winless Dragons, Sea Eagles won’t rush their young playmakers
The push for Kade Reed and Joey Walsh to be rushed into the struggling St George Illawarra and Manly teams won’t happen any time soon, with respective coaches Shane Flanagan and Kieran Foran not wanting to hurt the development and confidence of the young playmakers.
The sickening concussion suffered by Dragons’ five-eighth Kyle Flanagan on Sunday means Lyhkan King-Togia – not Reed – will come into the halves for Saturday’s round five clash against the Cowboys at Kogarah.
Three-time NRL premiership winner Luke Keary, who played above his weight throughout his career, is a fan of Reed, and told The Bye Round podcast: “Just throw him in. From what I’ve seen in the trials, he’s going to offer them something they haven’t had in a long time.”
Reed is gifted, but not the biggest playmaker, and already suffered a head knock in a NSW Cup game this year.
Flanagan was forced to hit the brakes on the Reed hype when there was talk about sending him to Las Vegas to play against the Bulldogs in the season-opener.
Reed, a one-time ballboy at the Dragons, was named in the No. 21 jersey for the Cowboys’ showdown at Jubilee Stadium, but will drop off the team list 24 hours before kick-off, unless there is a spate of injuries.
Flanagan told this masthead on Tuesday about the 20-year-old Reed: “I like him as a player, but he also has some areas of his game to work on.
“When he is ready I will use him, trust me – but I also have a duty of care to look after the long-term development of Kade. His time will come.”
Kyle Flanagan is making steady recovery after being floored against the Titans, and will miss Saturday’s game and possibly next Friday’s clash with Manly.
“We have two games in 12 days, he’ll be cleared to play a day before the Manly game, but it’s highly unlikely we’ll risk it,” Flanagan said.
“It’s a bit of an unknown at the moment. It was awful watching it on the night. He laid motionless for quite a while. Then you started to worry about his mother, his wife, and his sisters – none of them could get through to me because I was in the coach’s box. The main thing is he’s all right. He’s a tough kid.”
As the Dragons chase their first victory, Manly will do the same when they take on the Dolphins at Redcliffe on Thursday in what will be Foran’s first game in charge since Anthony Seibold’s sacking on Friday night.
Like Seibold, Foran has no appetite to rush local junior Walsh, 19, into the halves.
“Joey is an integral part of the future of this club, I have a huge opinion of Joey, and think he’ll be a superstar of the game,” Foran said.
“What I will say is he’s only 19, and bringing him in now, into a losing side, it would do him and his development no favours.
“We need to be smart and we need to be selective when we expose him to time in first grade. That will come at some point throughout the year. And we’ll start to prep him and use his X-factor and ability as the year goes on.
“But I’ve spoken with Joey, I’ve been up front and honest with him, he knows where he’s at at the moment, and he’s comfortable with it.
“He knows which direction well take with him, and the role he’ll play. He’s in a really good place. He played really, really well in the NSW Cup on the weekend, and we just want to keep seeing that from him at this time.”