Dragons put premiership favourites in their place

St George Illawarra handed NRL premiership favourites Parramatta an early wake-up call as the Dragons prevailed 18-12 to commence the new season at Parramatta Stadium on Friday night.

Up against the side that helped bundle them out of the 2009 finals, the Dragons were relentless as they clinically took care of an Eels side that failed to find the magic which propelled them to last year’s grand final.

Leading by six at the break, the Dragons twice opted against pushing for a killer blow in the second period as they handed the ball to Jamie Soward to extend the lead to 16-6 via a pair of penalty goals.

The negativity looked like coming back to haunt the Dragons when reigning Dally M medallist Jarryd Hayne ignited the 18,293 pro-Eels crowd with a deft cut-out for Luke Burt to score out wide.

Burt’s second sideline conversion of the game cut the margin to four with 17 minutes remaining, but Parramatta’s momentum was destroyed minutes later when a thumping hit by Jarrod Saffy and Dan Hunt knocked the ball loose from Nathan Cayless’s grasp from the kick-off.

The Dragons let that opportunity pass but they were again given a leg-up by the Eels five minutes from time, Fuifui Moimoi penalised for a strip on Michael Weyman with Soward slotting his third penalty of the night from point blank range.

Both sides played the best part of half a game down one player, Shane Shackleton suffering a hamstring tear while Dragons hooker Nathan Fien – who started the day celebrating the birth of his fourth child – was carried off with a suspected broken ankle.

The Dragons were deserved 12-6 leaders at the break, though they would have gone to the sheds ruing the fact they hadn’t turned their positional dominance over the opening stanza into a greater advantage.

Prop-cum-centre Matt Prior was twice stopped just centimetres from the line in the opening minutes before Fien grubbered for Ben Hornby to score just inside the dead ball line.

Hayne reminded everyone he was human as he kicked out on the full from inside his own half, the Dragons making him pay as Jeremy Smith bounced out of a pair of feeble tackles for a 12-0 advantage.

The Eels had played most of the game in their own half and it was from there they eventually got on the board, unlikely protagonist Jeff Robson dummying through and finding Hayne in support before Eric Grothe went over untouched on the next play.

Soward missed a chance to put the visitors out by eight when he pushed a penalty wide before Fien’s fateful dart was cut short, just like the rest of his night.

Dragons coach Wayne Bennett confirmed Fien’s ankle was broken and praised the side’s ability to adapt to the high casualty ward.

“We lost Nathan Fien which is a blow for us, Ben (Hornby) was in doubt right up to the match and we’ve got three centres out injured,” Bennett said.

“Our stocks are depleted in a couple of key positions.

“(Fien) was playing great tonight, he’s a really important part of the team.”

As for the ploy of kicking dead to avoid handing the ball to Hayne, Bennett said: “You want to kick to where the seagulls are … that was the idea.

“We don’t want to kick the ball to him on the full, that’s just making it too easy.”

Eels coach Daniel Anderson said the difference between the two sides was Soward’s brilliant kicking game and the Dragons’ stunning 94 per cent completion rate.

“They were very clinical and disciplined and buried us in field position,” Anderson said.

“They made one error for 80 minutes in the first game of the year so they’ve had a very good start.

“We just didn’t kick well.”

Asked about the loss had brought his side back to earth following the hype of their pre-season, Anderson said.

“No-one here was buying into the hype and I don’t think we played to the hype.

“We played a tough style and we played against a tough team … I think that’s an unfair statement.”

© 2010 AAP