Could be a starting centre next season...

Who for? Not a chance at Wigan unless Goulding hasn't recovered and either Carmont of Gleeson goes lame in pre season.

I personally would be surprised if Flanagan makes more than a couple of appearances at first grade down under.

Isn't it a two year contract? Maybe it'll take him a year to get up to speed.

Good luck to him I say. IMO he certainly has the ability to do well in the NRL.

It would be great to see him play well and get called up for England next time we go over there.

Too right it would.

And it would throw it back in some posters face's who have written him off before he's even gone.

Not knocking his ability, I simply doubt he will be given the time or opportunities to establish himself.

I do not believe for one second an NRL club would give an English player a contract unless they thought he could play some roll in the team. Why would they sign a player just to play in the reserves. I am sure he will get a chance in 2 years in the first team.

Do you think we signed him with the intention of playing him in the reserves? Or did we want to develop him into a great player to play in the first team?

It has happened before, they go over on nothing contracts for the experience, looking for an outside chance of making it, not saying that is the case with Flannigan but it has happened in the past.

Or maybe they've seen the lad play and spotted the potential that many supporters have.

The key aspect for me here is that it is a 'Pommie' who hasn't even established himself in Super League trying to establish himself in the Australian NRL.

I wish him luck and hope he does well, I just think he faces an uphill struggle.

Why not? That's exactly what we did with him.

It's going to be a tough task for the lad to make it in the first team over there. He may have to rely on a couple of injuries like he had to here but if he ever does get the chance and plays aswell for their first team as he has done for ours he'll be hard to leave out.

Reading in the Observer this week Tim Sheens said they'd done alot of homework on him before he broke into our first team and were interested in him after being tipped off by Frank Endacott so that must be encouraging for the lad.

Hope it all goes well for him.

Tim Sheens signed him because of his pure talent and potential, I think he’ll struggle to play at the start of the season, but the odds of a second row/loose forward playing every single game in an NRL season, well it doesn’t happen a lot.

The main competition within the Tigers are Corey Payne, Heighington, Gareth Ellis, Galea. Young lad currently in the Tigers squad called Mataka, roughly same age as Flan, but IMO Flan is way above him already.

Half way through next year, he’ll be in that first team, coming off the bench, aslong as he stays injury free. Fighting it out with Mataka for the spot on the bench.