Big twist in the future of Super League target

There has been a big twist in the future of a former Super League target’s future.

A halfback who has recently been linked to some of Super League’s biggest clubs could be headed for a surprise club due to family connections.

That player is of course Kyle Flanagan who could be a Super League player right now had the cards been dealt differently.

There have always been rumours that Flanagan could move to Super League. The Canterbury Bulldogs halfback had been tipped to join Leeds Rhinos early last year.

This came when Leeds Chief Executive Gary Hetherington was in Australia looking for a new coach and it was reported he was considering a move for Flanagan and his father Shane who coached Cronulla Sharks to the NRL title in 2016.

This of course never happened with Hetherington appointing Rohan Smith instead.

Then there were rumours linking Flanagan to Hull FC after Josh Reynolds’ departure who is ironically back at the Bulldogs alongside Flanagan.

Again, this never happened. But according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Flanagan had a move to a Super League club lined up but rejected the chance to move to England.

His advisor Wayne Beavis found Flanagan an English club according to the Herald but Flanagan back flipped on the move to stay at Canterbury in the hope he could cement the number seven shirt.

When this move was lined up remains unclear. It could very well be the aforementioned links to Leeds Rhinos and Hull FC.

Nonetheless, he didn’t make the move to England at that juncture in his career but the door could be opening again with Fox League reporting that he is set to be dropped with his up and down NRL career continuing.

This has again led to speculation that he could make the move to Super League especially with plenty of halfbacks being out of contract at the end of the 2023 season.

Flanagan himself is in the last year of his deal.

However, any Super League clubs keeping tabs on the halfback will be disheartened by the fact that it looks like his father Shane an assistant at Manly Sea Eagles is pushing to bring the halfback to the club for 2024.

This will dent any Super League club’s ambitions of bringing him to the UK.