Dai Flanagan is not one to kid himself.
Over the summer he picked up his first job as a head coach and he’d have struggled to select a more daunting location to put himself in the firing line.
The former fly-half is now at the Dragons, who have not won more league games than they've lost since the 2004/05 season.
Eight years ago, Flanagan arrived at the Scarlets in a transition/kicking coach role having helped set up a Dragons academy hub at Newport High School. In his first season he became interim attack coach, then went back to kicking coach following the arrival of Wayne Pivac and Stephen Jones.
READ MORE: Edinburgh v Dragons team news as Test lock Rowlands takes on new role as captain
When they departed for the Test arena, he became full time backs coach under Brad Mooar, with his influence growing following Glenn Delaney’s arrival. When he departed the scene in 2021, Flanagan became interim head coach until the end of the season before becoming Dwayne Peel’s assistant last term.
It’s fair to say that Flanagan, despite being relatively young for a head coach at just 36, has cut his teeth. But he does not believe he is the finished product as he takes up a role working alongside Dean Ryan, who moved to Director of Rugby in the summer.
Sitting across from him at a table overlooking the Dragons’ Ystrad Mynach training pitch, you very quickly sense that he is a meticulous person who does not waste his words. There is nothing loud or brash about him, which he acknowledges, and he speaks quietly.
He engages you by making you lean in to listen rather than smacking you in the face with the sound of his voice. Communication is something that he has studied deeply.
During his career, Flanagan has spent time at Google to learn about creativity, he videos himself in every single meeting that he presents and watches it back with a critical eye, he speaks to non-playing staff for their feedback, he speaks to former players that he once coached for feedback.
He thinks about the words he’s going to use, why he’s going to use them and how he is going to deliver them for maximum impact.
“I’m naturally quite a quiet guy, I like to keep myself to myself,” he tells WalesOnline. “My family would describe me as very stubborn. If people cross me, I don’t forgive very quickly. I give trust very easily but if you lose it, then you lose it.
“I try to see things the right way, I’m very optimistic when it comes to the game. We should always look to express ourselves and be brave in what we do.”
You might think that a person who is naturally quiet may struggle in a boisterous rugby environment but he’s been around long enough, having enjoyed a playing career that saw stints at Cardiff Blues, the Ospreys and Pontypridd.
He says: “You need to be able to grab people’s attention, your tone of voice has to change. Through my education training, that’s something I learned on the go.
“I spent two days with Google three years ago and that was an eye-opener for me regarding creativity. I’d done a lot of stuff naturally but I didn’t know why. I also learned about how important naive observers are.
“So if I’m delivering a meeting and the physio is in the room or the chef, I’ll ask them what they took out of the meeting because they’ll be honest and it’s important to pick up feedback like that.”
He gauges the success of his meetings based on how little he has to speak. Flanagan would much rather the players take ownership of certain areas rather than simply telling them to do things. He aims to cultivate a culture whereby the players are picking each other up on their mistakes because “that’s when you know your messages are getting across.”
He openly admits he never really fancied coaching until a brutally honest conversation with Scott Johnson towards the end of his career. The Aussie was in charge of the Ospreys when Flanagan was told he was not getting a new contract because he wasn’t good enough anymore.
Johnson urged him to think about picking up the metaphorical clipboard and, after briefly dabbling in the education system, Flanagan realised he missed being around what he calls “my people” – rugby folk.
So why the Dragons and why now? Well, put simply, Flanagan has returned home. He grew up playing rugby at Penallta RFC, a drop-kick away from where the Dragons now train, he’s from Cefn Hengoed and he lives just around the corner.
It’s clear that he harbours a huge emotional connection to the area and cares deeply about Gwent rugby.
“I think there is a misconception out there that Gwent rugby isn’t very good,” he says. “Having been involved as a kid all the way through at Penallta, I can tell you there are some tough, talented kids here and I want to be part of changing that perception.
“That’s what excites me, coming into work with Gwent boys every day looking at how we can get a mindset shift outside to get people thinking ‘F*** there are some good players there, they do things right there’.”
His non-negotiables revolve around understanding the system – “It’s not difficult to know your role for the first three phases” – and he wants his players to be brave and express themselves.
But when the question over style of play is raised, his connection to the area is palpable.
“You have to be true to the history of places,” he insists. “A big learning for me as a player was that Pontypridd had a brand of rugby and it was all through their age grades as well. I don’t think they had the credit they deserved for playing when I was there but there was also an understanding that you needed to be tough and smart.
“Going down to the Scarlets, the philosophy was completely different. It was all about playing first and the skillsets of kids coming into the pathway was different because their mini rugby was different.
“It’s important you put the stamp of your locality on your team and that’s what I’m trying to drill in here. Look at the history of Gwent rugby – Pontypool, Ebbw Vale, Newbridge. They were tough teams.
“We have to be a tough team but we have to have a sprinkle of stardust as well and hopefully that’s the kind of turnover, transition and edge attack stuff I can add in here.
“But we also need to be smart. We need to make teams beat us rather than beating ourselves.”
He will be aided by a small nucleus of his squad coming from the Gwent area. The likes of Leon Brown, Aaron Wainwright and Elliot Dee to name a few are from these parts.
Flanagan challenges the local boys: “Leon, Elliot and those boys are still young but they’ve been here for a long time, so what do they want to leave behind?
“I’ve watched two age-grade games in the last two Wednesdays and there are some really good kids with massive potential. When they come into our environment in two or three years, what do they see?
“You want to leave a mark. What were Elliot and Leon seeing as kids when they came in? I’m not sure.
“But the challenge for them is that when young players come into the environment, what do you want them to see?”
There is also the fact that the club have done more recruitment than their Welsh rivals this off-season, bringing in the likes of Sio Tomkinson from New Zealand, Max Clark and Sean Lonsdale from England, Irishman JJ Hanrahan and Rob Evans from the Scarlets to name a few.
Whilst having a connection to your area is important, those new faces are also being urged to put their stamp on things.
“They set standards that maybe the Welsh boys don’t really pay attention to,” said Flanagan. “Then there’s the internationals like Will Rowlands who also set standards.
“It’s important that the players coming through have role models and I look back on my own experience of being at the Cardiff Blues. When they were thriving under Dai Young they had Ben Blair, Casey Laulala, Xavier Rush. But look at the players on the back of that. Leigh Halfpenny came through, Jamie Roberts came through, Sam Warburton came through. Is that a coincidence? I don’t think so.”
It all sounds great but Flanagan knows that level of recruitment brings with it a certain level of expectation, a certain level of pressure.
“You’ve got to look it in the eyes,” he says. He is not a man concerned with what it will do to his reputation as a coach if this project goes belly up, he would rather view it as an opportunity disguised as a challenge.
In conclusion he adds: “I just want the opinion of Gwent rugby to change. I think everyone sees us as the ones with the smallest budget etc but if you can get people thinking ‘Wow, the Dragons can play, they are tough to beat’.
“I think if we can get that perception across then we’ll have had a good season.”
Like all coaches who stand on the verge of a new season, he knows that talk is cheap.
But what is clear is that this job has an emotional pull for Flanagan and it’s powerful. He’s all in on this and will do everything in his power to make it a success.
READ NEXT...
Tonight's rugby news as Webb identifies player to watch and Biggar gets honour
My room-mate Eddie Butler - the posh teen we nicknamed Bamber who won the respect of Wales' hard men
The Eddie Butler videos everyone is watching after his sudden death
'Hideous' Australia incident sees disciplinary chiefs step in as 'dog act' ends All Black's season
