The St George Illawarra Dragons have claimed their third win of the 2025 NRL season, but it didn't come without incident after they were reduced to 12 men at one stage of the second half.
In the 53rd minute of the game, Toafofoa Sipley was placed on report and sent to the sin bin for a hip drop tackle on Mat Feagai.
Feagai was unable to continue in the game, with the outside back, who had already been called upon to replace the injured Christian Tuipulotu, in fear of a knee injury.
While the extent of that blow is unclear at this stage, Flanagan revealed the situation was tricky, and saw him head to the sideline so his team wouldn't play with 12.
"I was upset because we have a player that at the time was hit in the head, but it was a hip drop. Then we started play again with 12 men, so we got penalised," Flanagan said during his post-match press conference.
"It was a tricky one. I know there was a lot going on the sideline, but we had to find out whether it was a HIA. He didn't come off with a HIA, he came off with a leg injury, but the player got put on report [and sin binned], so it was real tricky on the sideline.
"I didn't want to get involved with that, but I didn't want play to start again with 12 men.
"We messed it up, we dropped the ball on Tackle 1, but we shouldn't have started play with 12 men."
Flanagan said the NRL would need to look at the situation given the game didn't pause until his side could have 13 players back on the field.
"It was a free interchange, but they started play with us with 12 men. We have a player injured, taken off and then we start play with 12. That was frustrating for me. Why should we be penalised?" Flanagan asked.
"It was a tricky situation and I'm sure they'll look at it."
Complicating matters even further was the fact Sipley himself went off for a HIA at the same time he was sin binned.
The sin bin period with a man advantage was a horror show for the Red V as they let Manly back into a game they led 14 points to 0 at one point, and 14-6 when Sipley was sent on his way.
By the end of the ten-minute period, the game had been squared up.
St George Illawarra would eventually cling on through a late Jacob Liddle try, and the coach said that while there were brain snaps and errors from his side - a common theme so far this year - he was impressed with their effort and attitude in closing out the game on the Northern Beaches.
"There were some brain snaps in crucial times, but I thought their attitude and effort was first class. I thought they tried really hard under some difficult circumstances," Flanagan said.
"We lost Hamish Stewart HIA and then Matty Feagai as well. Losing a winger messes things up as well, but I thought they dug deep and defended really well.
"They throw a lot at you Manly. They aren't a hit it up hit it up footy team, they throw some shape at you all the time and have some class players.
"At 12-0 they came back at us, but I thought we responded pretty well. The effort was there, the attitude to scramble and we made some silly errors, we just need to get them out if we want to go to that next level as a footy club. That's what I need to continue to drive into the group - stop putting ourselves under pressure.
"Opposition sides put you under enough pressure but then we come up with some howlers."
The win - the first for the Dragons at Manly since 2017 - ensures the side sit three and three from their first six games, and on eight competition points after seven weeks of action having already had a bye.
