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The recovery by St George Illawarra is extraordinary. I’m convinced that even if Tyson Frizell had been sent off for his high shot on Canterbury’s Tim Browne in Sunday’s game, the Dragons still would have won.
It was 18-6 to St George Illawarra at that stage, with half an hour to go. The Dragons defend with such discipline, and so desperately under pressure, that a 12-point buffer with 12 men against 13 could quite conceivably have been enough.
As it was, the Dragons went on to win easily, 31-6. The Bulldogs had several key players out through suspension and injury, but they still had enough quality players out there to cause the Dragons problems – had the Dragons let them.
St George Illawarra lost 12-4 to Melbourne in the first round of the competition and followed that up with a 22-4 loss to Wests Tigers. Then they looked to be headed the same way in Round 3 against Canberra, when they trailed 18-0 in the first half.
But then a transformation occurred. They came back to beat the Raiders 22-20 and have followed that up with wins over Manly (12-4), Newcastle (13-0) and now Canterbury.
Suddenly, their game against Brisbane at Jubilee Oval on Friday has become the feature game of the night, ahead of the clash between Canterbury and Manly at ANZ Stadium.
Why have the Dragons come good? It all goes back to their defence – it’s the starting point with any team.
They weren’t bad in defence against the Storm, but to say they ‘only’ conceded 12 points is a bit misleading because the Storm is a team these days which, once it gets its hooks into a match in which the opposition doesn’t look like threatening, it doesn’t take many risks.
The Dragons were untidy early against the Tigers, and again against the Raiders, but then things turned around. They have conceded just 10 points in three matches since the Canberra game – and the great thing for them is that they now appear to be finding their way in attack.
The Dragons scored five tries against the Bulldogs. Their attack was really exciting at times and Benji Marshall had a terrific game.
As long as Gareth Widdop runs the show and Marshall picks the right time to enter the attack and try to make something happen, the Dragons will have the right balance.
Widdop, of course, has plenty to offer in the creative department himself, but he is pretty consistent when it comes to knowing when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.
It’s Marshall who has been known to over-play his hand at times.
When these two get the balance right they work really well together for the Dragons. The win over the Bulldogs was a great example.
Brisbane have made a stunning recovery as well, after a considerable early setback when South Sydney took them apart, 36-6, in the opening round.
Since then, they have won five in a row, their victims being Cronulla (10-2), North Queensland (44-22), Warriors (24-16), Gold Coast (26-16) and Sydney Roosters (22-18).
The Broncos have built their turnaround on defence as well.
They really weren’t any better in attack than the Sharks in that low-scoring, Round 2 game, but their defence did a better job of holding the opposition out.
Since establishing their defence, the Broncos have picked up their attack as well.
Based on what we’ve seen from the two teams so far, it’s going to be intriguing to see how Brisbane and St George Illawarra stack up against each other.
Just getting back to that Frizell tackle on Browne for a moment, when I first saw it I thought it was a send-off for sure.
But after watching the replay numerous times I think the match officials got it right in reporting Frizell rather than sending him off.
Due to the effect of the first man into the tackle, Browne lowered significantly in that fraction of a second before Frizell made contact with a swinging arm to the head and knocked him out.
No-one likes to see a player hurt like that and I’m sure Frizell will face a charge, but considering the circumstances it may only be in the careless high tackle category, rather than reckless or intentional.
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