Brisbane Broncos legend Corey Parker has set off on the St George Illawarra Dragons after the way the club dealt with the announcement of the departure of Shane Flanagan.
When speaking on the panel of Channel 7's The Agenda Setters: Rugby League, Parker, along with co-hosts Luke Keary, Aaron Woods and journalist David Riccio, was critical of the club's management of a replacement coach.
At the time of the press conference, the question regarding who would be stepping into the interim head coach role for the remainder of the season was still up in the air.
"9.45am this morning there was a press conference from Andrew Lancaster and co. The St George Illawarra Dragons have parted ways with Shane Flanagan," Parker said.
The parting ways of head of football Ben Haran and Shane Flanagan was a result of the club's poor start to the season, also stemming back to last year.
The Red V club has come under fire for seemingly not giving fans much clarity surrounding the roadmap out of their current predicament.
"Not only Shane Flanagan, but also Ben Haran shown the door by St George Illawarra," Riccio added.
"The Dragons are saying it is by mutual agreement. It was announced at a press conference, best explained as a strange conference, as at 9.45am, Dragons fans were given no real clarity on where the club stood as a replacement, and a way forward.
"It was quite a surprise, that they didn't have a plan at that point in time."
The breakdown in communication, highlighted by the playing group being told on the morning of the coach's departure, was in full display during Monday morning's press conference.
"It was doing the rounds on Sunday afternoon, that Shane Flanagan was told he would be departing ways with the club. The players don't find out til this morning. The communication feels like it missed a few things here," Woods said.
Given Flanagan's poor win rate at the joint venture, Parker took aim at the leadership of the club to give their fans more transparency on how the Red V shapes up moving into the future.
"It's been a shambles the way it has all been handled."
"At 9.45am when you tuned in, you understood the rumours had come to light and Shane had mutually agreed to move on.
"If you are a Dragons fan, player or member, you would have thought you would have some clarity on who that coach may be.
"This has been in the works for a while – this is his (Shane's) third year at the club. He's lost 11 games straight, with a win rate of 34.6%.
"The writing was on the wall. The lack of leadership this morning was appalling."
Later on Monday, Dean Young was announced as the Dragons' interim head coach, with Parker doubling-down on his shots fired at the club.
"Mick Ennis took up the role to be under the tutorage from Shane Flanagan and Shane is now gone."
"Is this an opportunity for Dean Young to be the head coach moving forward, or is it just appeasing the fans to silence the noise for a little while.
"Here are some of the coaching candidates; Dean Young, Michael Ennis, Ben Hornby, Willie Talau, Brad Arthur and Matt King.
"Dean having been at the Dragons, is he part of the problem? Or is he part of the solution."
The Red V now faces the task of salvaging the rest of their season and drawing their focus towards their annual Anzac Day clash against the Sydney Roosters on Saturday.
