Gorden Tallis has warned Dragons coach Shane Flanagan that he will lose his job if he doesn’t drop son Kyle as the Red V crumbled in a 30-18 loss to Cronulla on Thursday.

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The Dragons have been inconsistent in 2025, following up a pair of wins over the Broncos and Knights with a 56-6 defeat at the hands of the Dolphins before being run down by the Sharks.

While obviously not all on Kyle, the Dragons halfback was largely ineffective in the second half, caught with the ball on the last tackle and not digging into the line consistently enough when he did pass.

Shane rubbished suggestions of favouritism last month after he dropped Kyle’s halves partner Lachlan Ilias, but Tallis said if the 26-year-old doesn’t improve his father may have no choice but to make the tough call.

“What’s going to happen is it’s either going to be his job or Kyle’s,” warned Tallis on Triple M.

“You can keep on giving him a go and it can be your job in the end. That’s what happens.

“Unless you’re coaching Nathan Cleary, it’d be really tough coaching your sons.”

To further his point, Tallis drew on a personal experience playing under his dad Wally, who benched him at one point for almost a whole year.

“I used to go crying to mum. But that’s what he did,” Tallis said.

“I’m glad that happened… when you’re not winning, you can’t look at him like your son… and that would be really hard. It’s your blood.

“I’ve watched it with Brad Arthur. His son getting booed and he had to go. Like, it’d be really difficult at this level, sitting there coaching your son and he’s not getting the job done.”

James Graham, however, questioned whether the Dragons really have many other options for the time being outside of Ilias, who Flanagan already axed from the team.

“They would know at the Dragons whether someone is banging down the door to take that halfback role,” Graham said after the Sharks game on Triple M.

“They have Lachie Ilias – he would be the obvious choice. But I guess the elephant in the room is that it’s the coach’s son.”

Elaborating further on that point on Sunday afternoon, Graham also defended Flanagan by pointing to a number of other mistakes that cost the Dragons in the loss to the Sharks.

“For me, that game on Thursday evening, they just had some really poor moments,” he said.

“They did so well to get themselves back into the contest at 18-6.

“And in the second half, one was a pure kick defusal error from Tyrell Sloan… and then the defence from the scrum, they split four and two, they go two on two. There was absolutely no urgency. Sione Katoa gets the ball on the inside of Moses Suli.

“There’s no pressure from the inside. Katoa skips to the outside of Moses Suli, he’s backing off on the try-line and it goes over. Like what’s Flanagan supposed to do there?

“They’re just two big no-nos. And then the last try was King-Togia looking for a chip and chase and then Katoa gets the ball, goes up the other end and scores. I mean, that you can’t do anything about.

“That’s a young player trying his best to salvage something. But those two tries that they conceded, that would just annoy the hell out of coach Flanagan. With the personnel that they’ve got, they can’t afford to beat themselves.”

Coach Flanagan at least has time to weigh up his next move, with the Dragons on the bye.