The St George Illawarra Dragons have come away with a win to retain the Alex McKinnon Cup at Hunter Stadium, with the hapless Newcastle Knights slumping to their 13th defeat of the season.
RE-LIVE ALL THE ACTION WITH OUR LIVE BLOG
Realistically, the game was just about over by halftime but the Knights fought hard throughout the second to at least make things interesting – in the end though, they were simply too far behind for a comeback.
It was a day to remember for Benji Marshall, as he was involved in everything for the Dragons and controlled things with a perfect mix of passing, kicking and explosiveness.
Backed up with strong performances, particularly in the first half by the rest of the Red V’s spine – Gareth Widdop, Josh Dugan and Mitch Rein they were able to push away from the Knights.
Their job was made exceptionally easy by the forward pack, who dominated the first half and parts of the second, making it easy for points to be scored.
Of course, it wasn’t just the attack and clinical execution in attack from the Dragons, but some very weak defence from the Knights that led to a big halftime deficit.
The Dragons attack did look smoother than it has for most of the season, and that has to be a positive moving forward.
The Knights struggled to get into the contest during the first half, but when they did have the ball it was Trent Hodkinson looking threatening, while Mitch Barnett and Jeremy Smith were both strong.
The scoring opened in just the second minute through Kalifa FaiFai Loa from a long range effort out of their own half, with Benji Marshall and Dugan both involved before Aitken got into space and put FaiFai Loa over in the corner.
The next was through Jacob Host, who burst through a hole 30 metres out after a flat ball from Gareth Widdop.
Euan Aitken would be next to benefit from the Dragons hot start, with Benji Marshall going to the right hand side throwing a flat ball to the right for Aitken to cross.
Nathan Ross would then answer back for the Knights with one of the tries of the season. It was a fraction scrappy in the leadup, but a ball off the ground from Elliot saw Ross virtually leap the corner post, upside down to score.
Tim Lafai and Benji Marshall would then both come up with tries to close out the first half in dominant style for the Dragons.
The Lafai try all started on the right side with De Belin putting Rein through a hole who was collected 20 metres out. Following a pair of cut out balls, the final from Jason Nightingale it was Lafai to benefit and score in the corner.
Marshall would then score on the last play of the first half, running onto a ball from Rein and dummying his way through the line.
It might have been a dominant first half for the Dragons, but the Knights managed to work their way into the contest, coming up with a couple of tries during the second and ensuring they weren’t completely outplayed, stopping the game from becoming a blowout scoreline.
While Trent Hodkinson and Jeremy Smith continued to lead the team strongly, Barnett backed up his solid first half and was joined by the likes of Dane Gagai, Danny Levi and Korbin Sims to improve their performance and the scoreline.
The Dragons execution seemed to fall away, as did their will to score points – although a much improved Newcastle defensive line has to be given plenty of credit.
St George Illawarra did score the first try of the second half though, after what could be described as a soft penalty with Joel Thompson running onto a beautiful flat ball from Benji Marshall who had threatened to throw it long.
That would prove to be the last try for the Dragons as an arm-wrestle broke out.
It would take until the 64th minute for the Knights to put more points on the board, which they did through Sione Mata’utia as Gagai put himself in space and grubbered for the corner, where a compressed Dragons defence was no chance of stopping him.
It would be then Mitch Barnett who scored on the left hand side following a period of prolonged attack and a very nice flat ball.
Despite the score cutting the lead to ten and making things interesting, the Knights came up with an error or two and the Dragons would hang on, slotting a penalty goal in the final 60 seconds to take the lead back out to 12.
With that, the Dragons provisionally go back into the top eight, but realistically won’t stay there. Despite that, they have won two straight and need to continue that moving forward.
The Knights though stay glued to the bottom of the table.
At Hunter Stadium this afternoon, it was the Dragons 30 defeating the Knights 18.
Final score
Newcastle Knights 18
St George Illawarra Dragons 30
Stats
Tries: Knights (3), Dragons (6)
Goals: Knights (3/3), Dragons (2/6)
Penalty Goals: Knights (0/0), Dragons (1/1)
Possession: Knights (48%), Dragons (52%)
Completions: Knights (26/36), Dragons (24/32)
All runs: Knights (186), Dragons (179)
All Run metres: Knights (1687), Dragons (1766)
Line Breaks: Knights (4), Dragons (10)
Offloads: Knights (15), Dragons (5)
Tackles: Knights (338), Dragons (350)
Missed tackles: Knights (36), Dragons (28)
Penalties: Knights (5), Dragons (6)
Errors: Knights (8), Dragons (9)
Sin Bin: Nathan Ross
The Roar’s NRL MVP votes
3 – Benji Marshall
2 – Mitch Rein
1 – Trent Hodkinson
This effort just about summed up the Dragons' defence against the Warriors. They held their opponents to their equal-lowest score this season in a…
Zac Lomax has added further to his Origin case with another strong performance in the Dragons' stunning 30-12 boilover win over the Warriors in…
Not what the Warriors needed down 22-6... Roger Tuivasa-Sheck not only ruined his side's chances of pinching the ball back but gifted the Dragons…
The Dragons star became the eighth player to nail a two-point field goal since its introduction and the Fox League crew were highly impressed.…
Who are the hardest working big men in the NRL?
Over the last two weeks while I’ve been watching the footy I’ve been reminded of the career of Nick Kyrgios. He is an incredibly…
