NRL de-registers Shane Flangan and Justin Pascoe

The NRL has de-registered Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan and Wests chief executive Justin Pascoe over separate breaches.

The Sharks have made John Morris and Jim Dymock as interim coaches, while the Tigers will search for a new CEO after the club was punished over an undisclosed agreement to pay Robbie Farah as an ambassador when he retires from the game.

Flanagan’s de-registration comes from him dealing with Cronulla regarding the recruitment and retention of players while he was suspended back in 2014 over the club’s peptides scandal.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said: “Part of those conditions was a requirement that the club would not allow Mr Flanagan to be concerned directly or indirectly with the club whilst he was suspended.

“That message was reinforced a number of times to the club, and to Mr Flanagan during his suspension.

“The conditions that applied to Shane Flanagan’s 2014 suspension were crystal.

“Shane and the club appear to have ignored those conditions.”

The Sharks have been fined $400,000, the amount that had been suspended from the £1 million fine they received in 2014, and given another fine of $400,000 for the breach.

Wests have been fined $750,000 and the amount of Farah’s ambassador agreement – $639,000 – will be included in their 2019 salary cap.

Cronulla and Wests have until the end of January to respond to the findings.

There would be no time limit placed on how long Flanagan would have to stay away from the NRL before he could seek a return.

Flanagan could well turn to Super League for his next coaching move, as the English game is run under a different set of rules.