Shane Flanagan can say until he is blue in the face that his son Kyle is not getting preferential treatment at the Dragons.

But here is the proof Flanagan is living in a world of denial as the coach of his son.

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We have gone through the entire list of starting halfbacks at all 16 rival NRL clubs.

And the fact is Kyle would struggle to get the No 7 jumper at each and every one of them, with Newcastle the only possible exception.

In the wake of another disappointing defeat after blowing an 18-6 halftime lead to go down 30-18 to the Sharks, young Flanagan is again copping it from the fans and sections of the media.

Gorden Tallis even came out on weekend radio and spoke for many when he said that if Shane keeps picking his son at halfback they will both end up out of work.

“What’s going to happen is it’s either going to be his job or Kyle’s.” Tallis told 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.”

But now Flanagan senior has come out in the News Corp press and again taken aim at all those questioning Kyle’s form.

“To say Kyle is under pressure is ridiculous,” Flanagan told Buzz Rothfield.

“He’s been among our best players all year. It’s not me, ask the players and coaches. I’m probably harder on Kyle than any other player.”

But that is not entirely correct because it is Lachlan Ilias who is playing reserve grade right now, when plenty of others believe Ilias should be recalled and young Flanagan dropped.

As for my earlier statement that Kyle would struggle to get the starting seven at any other NRL club, let’s go through them one by one just to be clear.

Would you have Flanagan ahead of Tom Dearden at the Cowboys?

Adam Reynolds at the Broncos?

Isaiya Katoa at the Dolphins?

Jayden Campbell at the Titans?

Jack Cogger at the Knights? That’s the only debate I can see in this entire list.

Daly Cherry-Evans at Manly?

Mitchell Moses at Parra?

Jamie Humphreys at Souths?

Sam Walker, Hugo Savala or even Sandon Smith at the Chooks?

Jarome Luai at the Tigers?

Toby Sexton at the Dogs?

Nathan Cleary at the Panthers?

Nicho Hynes at the Sharks?

Jamal Fogarty at the Raiders?

Jahrome Hughes at the Storm?

Luke Metcalf at the Warriors?

There you have it.

After going through the entire list the only possible chance of Flanagan getting a start elsewhere is at the struggling Knights _ who are so desperate for a halfback they recently gambled $1.3 million-a-season on Dylan Brown from next year.

The other issue Flanagan senior has to confront is that the Dragons are about to enter a particularly tough part of the season, and if they don’t start winning games Shane’s job will come under pressure next.

The Dragons now have the bye but return in round 17 against the Eels.

But it’s after that a really tough seven weeks kicks off when they go up against the Raiders, Roosters and Bulldogs followed by the Cowboys.

Then it’s the Raiders and the Sharks again, then the Warriors.

If Flanagan doesn’t make the call right now to drop his son and reinstate Ilias he might live to regret it if they are sitting down the bottom of the table after round 24, and the Dragons board are demanding answers to why they have missed the finals again.

After finishing 11th last year, the Dragons simply can’t afford to go backwards when the coach is seen to be giving his own son preferential treatment.

SAM WALKER’S AGENT CLEARS THE AIR OVER COMMENTS ROOSTERS HAVE GONE ‘COLD’ ON DCE

Sam Walker’s agent has clarified comments made on ABC radio during Manly’s shock 28-8 loss to the Titans on Friday night that the Roosters have gone “cold” on Daly Cherry-Evans.

Clinton Shifcofske is adamant his comments were taken out of context when they were brought up post match.

And he was clear that in no way was he giving up inside information when he suggested the Roosters were having second thoughts about signing the veteran playmaker, while discussing the merits of the Titans signing a player with DCE’s experience.

Schicofske said he had no knowledge of what the Roosters were doing in relation to DCE.

And he maintains that he was only commenting on recent speculation the Roosters might be looking to do their own backflip, which is why he suggested a player with DCE’s experience could be an asset to the Titans who clearly do need an experienced halfback.

The comments were made during the match coverage and later brought up at the media conference when Cherry-Evans was told about Schicofske’s comments.

DCE responded: “No, I’m not, I don’t sort of understand that stuff,” Cherry-Evans said.

“Sort of stay out of it. All I can do is control my footy at Manly and speculation will be speculation but yeah, no, just obviously we’ve just lost a couple in the row so it’d be silly for me to be worrying about stuff like that.”

Yet it is the story that won’t go away until an announcement is made one way or the other.

Given DCE’s inconsistent form this year, it would seem crazy for the Roosters to bring him in and potentially hold up the development of Walker as the team’s chief playmaker, while also delaying the development of Hugo Savala and Sandon Smith (although Smith looks certain to exit the Roosters at the end of the season regardless).

FONUA-BLAKE SHOWS WHY HE IS THE SHARKS’ MAIN MAN

Forget Nicho Hynes. Addin Fonua-Blake is the Sharks’ main man.

And if the big prop plays like that every week maybe the Sharks can be a fair dinkum premiership contender this year.

A week earlier Fonua-Blake went awol against the Warriors when he finished with 11 runs for 98m.

But he was back to his barnstorming best against the Dragons churning through 170m through 15 runs.

That’s not ignoring Blake Brailey was best on ground while Briton Nikora again showed what a class act he is on the right edge.

Though you can’t ignore the performance of Hynes who again came up with some costly unforced errors.

Hynes should be thanking his lucky stars the Dragons self-imploded in the second half, and Tyrell Sloan was on the opposing team.

While Kyle Flanagan has again been wearing the bullets for the Dragons’ demise, Sloan can’t be excused after another forgettable night capped off with that disastrous mix-up with Clint Gutherson that resulted in a crucial Sharks’ try.

Even allowing for the Dragons’ injury woes, it is hard to see how Sloan fights his way back from this one.

DOES KNIGHTS ‘ROBBERY’ ADD WEIGHT TO RICHO’S BIAS CLAIMS?

With Wests Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson potentially facing a sanction from the NRL for daring to claim struggling teams face an inherit bias from match officials, we give you Exhibit A.

If the NRL Bunker wants to tell us Siua Wong’s so-called try in the Roosters’ 12-8 win over the Knights was the correct call, we surely need to change the rules of what constitutes a try in the modern game.

Because that was not what the NRL would want to advertise as a classic rugby league try, and if that try decided a grand final we’d be talking about it for years to come.

In no way are we suggesting the match officials made this call to deliberately influence the result of the match.

But we need to remember the NRL is not NFL and we don’t have touchdowns.

While the Bunker ruled Wong grounded the ball with his forearm, as Knights stand-in skipper Dane Gagai said after the game: “They said there was no separation but I’ve never seen someone control the ball with their forearm before”.

Coincidently, this came in the same week Richardson was being investigated for saying what other bosses from battling teams have been claiming privately for some time.

“I’ve learned over the years, though, that refereeing decisions never really go your way when you’re battling up the ladder,” Richardson told the Tigers’ Behind the Roar podcast.

“For some reason referees — and they’re humans — they feel that the better teams are going to make better mistakes, less mistakes, when really that’s not the case. But it is what it is.”

“You’ve got to become one of the better teams to get some more of the rub of the green.”

BEST YOUNG HALFBACK SINCE ANDREW JOHNS MAKES DOLPHINS A LIVE THREAT

It is starting to sound like a broken record but what about the performance of young Isaiya Katoa in the Dolphins’ 58-4 thrashing of the Cowboys.

I can’t remember seeing a more impressive young halfback emerge since Andrew Johns in his early years at the Knights than what we are witnessing from this 21-year-old whose ability to control the tempo of the game is just phenomenal.

Even listening to Katoa speak live on Fox League after the game, he comes across as mature beyond his years, and his confidence when talking to some of the biggest names in the game in Mal Meninga and Cooper Cronk further highlights his obvious belief in his ability.

And while Kristian Woolf has the Dolphins playing an exceptional brand of footy across the park, it is the rise and rise of Katoa that has them seriously looking a genuine force in what appears a wide-open race for this year’s premiership.

After starting the season with four straight defeats, the Dolphins have since won seven of their past 10 games to move into sixth on the NRL ladder.

And the last three weeks has been particularly impressive with the Dolphins racing in 168 points against the Bulldogs, Dragons and Cowboys, with only 18 points conceded.

SEXTON GIVES CIRALDO A SELECTION HEADACHE

Cameron Ciraldo will have a tough job dropping Toby Sexton when Matt Burton returns from NSW Origin duties.

With most expecting Lachlan Galvin to be the new halfback moving forward, Sexton produced arguably his best game of the season against the Rabbitohs.

It must be said the Sexton/Galvin halves combination was impressive, and Galvin is certainly going to add another dimension to the Bulldogs’ attack.

But given Burton’s spot is locked in, Sexton deserves extra credit for the way he has taken on this challenge when most presumed he would automatically be the odd man out going forward.