Shane Flanagan has opened up on the circumstances around Ben Hunt's tumultuous final year at St George Illawarra, expressing frustration at how things played out between the club and their former captain.
The veteran was released from the final year of his contract last month after frequently angling for a move away from the Dragons.
He is now set for a homecoming at Brisbane after reportedly inking a two-year deal to re-join the Broncos.
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Shane Flanagan reveals frustrations around the exit of Ben Hunt
One of Flanagan's first problems to solve after taking over from Anthony Griffin was to talk to Hunt after the halfback had been angered by the treatment of his former mentor.
"I needed to get to Ben, which I did, pretty early and see if I could resolve some of the issues that he was having with the club," Flanagan said while appearing on The Bye Round with James Graham.
"I think I did that...But Ben has a good relationship with Anthony and he was pretty disappointed when he was terminated. I don’t know if he got over that.
"And then there were a few other things that sort of annoyed Ben through a period of time."
Despite managing to persuade the No.7 to stay for the 2024 campaign, the foundations of the repaired relationship always appeared to be shaky.
This was emphasised during the State of Origin campaign later in the year when Hunt once again expressed his desire to leave the club in favour of returning to Queensland.
The talk of a release was immediately shut down at the time by the club although the separation between the two parties was clear for all to see.
However, Hunt didn't show any signs of this out on the field as he orchestrated the side's attack well to have the Dragons in charge of their own fate at the business end of the year.
"We went okay and maybe winning glossed over a few things," Flanagan admitted.
Yet this sense of resolution quickly crumbled as the side lost four of their last five matches to miss out on the finals.
"In the last period of the season - not just Ben but the whole team - fell in a heap," Flanagan stated.
"We had a chance to make the semis and we didn’t get there and I think that was just the icing on the cake for Ben.
"He thought he was held responsible, which he wasn’t.
"It probably brought everything to a tipping point again…It just got out of hand."
What happened between Shane Flanagan and Ben Hunt during club's end-of-season review?
Following the immense disappointment of failing to finish in the top eight, Hunt then bunkered down in the Australian camp for their triumphant Pacific Championships campaign.
However, noise soon emerged from out of the Kangaroos' set-up and reached Flanagan. It left the coach with the uneasy feeling that the Red V were once again on a collision course with their skipper.
"In the end, my captain was out there in the Australian team and there was some messaging coming back that he wasn’t overly happy being at the Dragons," Flanagan said.
"If they don’t want to be there, there’s not much use having them. So, it was a good decision from the club and Ben agreed with it."
The call to finally part ways came after months of turmoil behind the scenes, with the coach admitting that valuable time and resources were being taken up by the situation.
The very public breakdown between club and player often played out in the media and Flanagan noted how it simply couldn't go on as he was eager to wipe the slate clean ahead of the 2025 campaign.
"It was impacting a lot of people," the 58-year-old said.
"I’m sure it was getting to Ben, his wife and his family. No one likes to see themselves in the papers for all these negative reasons.
"From a club perspective, it took a lot of my time up and a lot of my staff’s time up. It was a drain on people.
"I was looking at the players and probably half of them were thinking, ‘Is our captain and halfback going to be here?’ You don’t need that.
"We needed to make a decision because it wasn’t a good environment."
However, Flanagan was keen to point out that the relationship he shared with Hunt wasn't a deciding factor in the player's departure.
"We never had an argument and we never had any heated debates - we got on pretty well the whole season," Flanagan said.
"It’s frustrating. For people to say they got information about the (end-of-season) review, it was done with one other coach and Ben.
"The info that got out wasn’t what happened. It wasn’t a heated debate. He listened and had the opportunity to give feedback on what I did well and what he did well and the opposite.
"There were no arguments. It was just three men having a discussion about how we can get better, what wasn’t good during the year, and how we can help each other."
