'Flanno got me down here': Incoming Dragons coach ahead of the game on Liddle

Liddle arrived in Wollongong in preseason a Wests Tiger castoff looking to reboot a stalled career after seven stop-start seasons at Concord, with the Dragons looking to add hooking depth following the retirement of Andrew McCullough.

After a roller coaster start to his time with the club that saw him sign a two-year contract until the end of 2025, only to be dumped to reserve grade by then coach Anthony Griffin two weeks later, the 26-year-old has regularly logged 70-plus minutes in 10 games under interim coach Ryan Carr.

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It's made the most of a career lifeline initially offered by Flanagan in the incoming head coach's former list-management role at the club.

"Flanno got me down here in the first place," Liddle said.

"I had a meeting with him and Hook just before I came down when I was at the Tigers. [Flanagan] said they needed a bit of speed around the ruck. I took a bit of a leap of faith and came down on a one-year deal and it's paid off for me.

"I've got a long term deal here so I'm excited to work with Flanno on that coaching side. He'll build his own roster around what he wants, he's been there and done that, so I'm excited to see what he's going to bring next year."

In a forgettable year on the team front, Liddle has emerged as one of the genuine success stories, having made the No. 9 jumper his own while banking the longest minutes and unbroken string of matches of his career.

While he's trade a lot of it for more wins, the Central Coast product is happy to have ticked off goals he'd set himself on the personal front when making the shift south.

"It's been a good year for me personally," he said.

"A couple of wins would be good, but footy-wise, the time at hooker has been great. I've been playing a lot of nine and ticking the games along, which has been good.

"It's been great for me getting a taste of what it's like to back up, week after week with those long minutes and getting to the 70-75 minute mark each game.

"It's tough [to do] for this game where they keep a hooker on the bench, but Carry's had faith in me and he's pushed me out as much as I can go so it's been great.

"I think it's probably been my longest season to date, so on that front, it's been great. I think I'm working towards what I can achieve, I'm not there yet. I've got a lot of work to do, but it's been really good for me personally."

Liddle was at the centre of controversy in a heartbreaking last-start loss to the Eels that leaves Ryan Carr's side staring down the barrel of eight losses in their previous 10 outings heading into Saturday's showdown with the Rabbitohs in Cairns.

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Among the title favourites earlier this season, Souths find themselves in a pitched battle for the top eight with four weeks remaining. It's sure to draw a response from a star-studded outfit, but Carr has every faith in his undermanned squad.

"They're obviously good, good team, a lot of good players, a lot of big threats there that we have to make sure that we're on top of," Carr said.

"You've got your Cody [Walker] and Latrell [Mitchell and [Cam] Murray, [Damien] Cook, honestly you could go on and on. They've got good players all over the field, but I've got a lot of confidence in our team and the guys that we're putting out there too.

"Ultimately, it comes down to our energy and our enthusiasm and our intent when we turn up. They're gonna be coming out of the blocks, we're aware of that, we've just gotta make sure that we put the best version of ourselves out there like we have last month."

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