Inside Flanagan's plan to make Tyrell Sloan the Dragons' long-term fullback

The 21-year-old has bounced back to form following a tough initiation under the Flanagan era at the Dragons, highlighted by a shift to the wing mid-game during the side's earlier season loss to Newcastle.

In 2022, he was twice dropped from the Dragons side under then coach Anthony Griffin, further proof that it has been far from smooth sailing for Sloan at the Red V.

Despite all this, Sloan played a starring role in the side's 30-12 smashing of the Warriors last round in Wollongong. In Flanagan's eyes, Sloan has the potential to be one of the best in the NRL. But first, the club has to keep him.

"We're endeavouring to keep Sloany," Flanagan said.

"We're in discussions with his management company and it hasn't been quick. But we'd like to think that gets done. We want to keep Tyrell and Tyrell wants to stay. So it's just a matter of coming to some sort of agreement.

"Tyrell was outstanding for us last week. He's 21 years of age, he's got a big future. As I said, he wants to stay here and we want to keep him. Hopefully he's the long-term fullback for the club because they're hard to find.

"He's on the right track."

Sloan himself has heaped plenty of praise on Flanagan in recent times.

"Flanno's Flanno, he's not afraid to make decisions," Sloan said last week.

"He tells me straight how it is and I respect him for that. It makes me a better player and makes the team a lot better."

The Dragons will be looking to make it three wins from three games in the annual Anzac Day fixture against the Roosters.

Flanagan warned that he felt the Roosters were getting back to their best and that anything can happen on the day in this fixture, irrespective of form.

He added that after an inconsistent start to the season, the real battle for his side was to now get constant wins on the board.

"It doesn't matter where you are on the competition table if we're at the top and they're down the bottom or midfield or vice versa, Anzac Day clashes between the Roosters and the Dragons are always something special," he said.

"So we can't go on previous form. I reckon they've probably got close to their best team running out tomorrow, so we know they'll be a tough team to beat and previous form doesn't come into it tomorrow.

"We addressed that we need to be consistent. Consistent in our training, consistent in match performances. We're heading in the right direction.

"We'll have moments during the year where we're not consistent, I think all sides will, but it's probably something that we've addressed early. And the real challenge is to put a really good month of football together.

"If you play well for long periods of time within games, week to week, you'll find that good things happen to you and you'll win some footy games.

"So that's the real challenge for us. If we can put three wins together back-to-back in the NRL, you're doing OK."

In late team news for the clash, Zac Lomax - who was originally named to back up in the centres - will shift to the wing and Jack Bird will return to his usual role in the middle of the park after recovering from a head knock.

The change was made due to an injury to Mikaele Ravalawa.

Kickoff for the match is 4:05pm.