The obvious candidate to replace Flanagan at the Dragons

Matty Johns has named the assistant coach he thinks is the obvious option to replace Shane Flanagan at the St George Illawarra Dragons.

Having lost all six of their games this season, the pressure has come thick and fast on Flanagan’s tenure at the Red V.

When asked by Johns whether he felt Flanagan’s position was untenable, Denan Kemp believed it was.

“I think it’s untenable at the moment,” Kemp said on SEN’s Morning Glory with Matty Johns.

“Just with some of the stuff he said in the last press conference, and also bringing up Ben Hunt and him leaving.

“I just think as a playing group it would very hard to stomach hearing my coach say that the outside men not finishing tries is why we lost the last few games or if I’m a reserve grade player busting my back side to get into the first grade side hearing ‘Trust me, if I had better players, I’d bring them in’.

“I just think it’s become untenable, unfortunately.”

With Flanagan’s likelihood of staying on in the role decreasing, contenders have already emerged to replace him.

Among those options are the club’s assistant coaches, Dean Young and Mick Ennis, alongside South Sydney’s Ben Hornby and former Parramatta coach Brad Arthur.

With those options, Johns thinks that Young is the most likely candidate to replace Flanagan.

However, notes that there could be issues with his appointment, considering his Father, Craig ‘Albert’ Young, is on the board of the St George Leagues Club.

“Dean Young is the most obvious one,” Johns said.

“But apparently, there's a bit of a school in thought (that) he's part of the reason.

“And we've had a father-son combination that hasn't worked, and of course, Dean's father, Albert, he's one of the power breakers of the club. So, I don't know.

“I still think he is the favourite, but there's talk about Benny Hornby, there's talk about Brad Arthur.”

Kemp also believes that Young would make for a good option for at least an interim capacity, given his prior history with the club as a player.

“I like interim Dean Young at the very least,” Kemp added.

“Just kind of like what Manly is doing with Foran, let's just see what it's like, give ourselves some time.

“I think also what the Broncos did with Kevvie Walters was really good in the sense that what do we need to do with this Brisbane club?

“We need to remind them of what it means to be a Bronco.

“Also, and I know a lot of people go, ‘Oh, you shouldn't be dictated by what fans want or whatever’.

“But it does help to quiet the noise, just to give you time to make a decision.

“I think if you had a guy like Dean Young in there, at least from an interim perspective, you definitely could remind them what it is to be a Dragon.”

The Dragons will look to avoid going 0-7 when they take on South Sydney at Accor Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Kick-off is at 5:30pm AEST.