If there is one team which is intent on making a statement this season after narrowly missing the finals last year, it is the St George Illawarra Dragons.
After taking a step or two backwards in 2016, not much was expected from the Red V in 2017.
However, a 42-10 thrashing of pre-season premiership favourites the Penrith Panthers in Round 1 would catch the competition by surprise, with the Dragons going on to win five matches in a row between Rounds 3 and 7 to sit on top of the ladder.
This included wins over reigning premiers the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in Round 3, as well as eventual grand finalists the North Queensland Cowboys, whom they defeated by 28-24 after leading 28-4 at halftime.
However, their season took a turn for the worse when their captain Gareth Widdop suffered a knee injury in the first half of their Anzac Day clash against the Sydney Roosters, which they lost 13-12 in golden point extra time.
His absence would see the Dragons drop their next three matches, and apart from beating the Warriors and Wests Tigers on either side of their Round 12 bye, they would not win consecutive matches for the remainder of the season.
Still, it was their impressive first half of the season which won coach Paul McGregor a contract extension, tying him to the club until the end of 2019, by the end of which he will be the club’s second-longest serving coach, only behind Nathan Brown who mentored the side between 2003 and 2008.
This, however, would mark a millstone as the Dragons would win only twice more to drop out of the top eight for the first time in the season in Round 22.
Two wins in their next three matches would then place them in the precarious situation whereby they would have to beat one of their bogey sides, the Bulldogs, in the final round to clinch a finals berth.
They led by 20-14 with fifteen minutes to go but conceded the last two tries to go down by 26-20, finishing the season in ninth place and marking a sour ending to a year which had started so brightly.
As if that wasn’t enough, they then had to watch on as the team that finished eighth, the Cowboys, made it all the way to the grand final, only to be beaten by the Melbourne Storm 34-6.
(AAP Image/Darren Pateman)
Still, to many fans it was a good result given the low expectations on them at the start of the season borne out of their dismal 2016 season in which only the Newcastle Knights scored less points than the Red V.
Apart from the early season form of Gareth Widdop, other highlights for the club included the individual form of forwards Jack de Belin, Paul Vaughan and Tyson Frizell.
Frizell played all three games for New South Wales in 2017, while de Belin and Vaughan were both very close to selection for the Blues, who this year will be coached by former captain Brad Fittler.
Days after the soul-crushing loss to the Bulldogs, it was announced that James Graham had signed a three-year deal with the Dragons, ensuring that his rugby league career would end by wearing the most famous letter in the NRL.
It came months after Brisbane Broncos half-back Ben Hunt signed a six-year, $6 million contract, also starting in 2018.
The club’s acquisition of both Hunt and Graham are arguably the biggest signings, whether it’d be player or coach, since Wayne Bennett coached the club between 2009 and 2011.
It was during Bennett’s tenure as Dragons coach in which the club won the 2010 premiership, defeating the Sydney Roosters by 32-8 in the grand final.
From the side that saluted on that rainy evening on October 3, 2010, only Jason Nightingale remains at the club today, and it is inevitable that this season will be his last. He only needs to play five games to reach the 250-game milestone.
(Photo: AAP)
Thus, on the back of their biggest off-season since the 2010 premiership, which to many fans seems like an eternity ago given the club’s recent downturn in fortunes, expectations will be very high.
Already their 2018 season has got off to a mixed start, winning an exhibition match against Hull and dropping their annual Charity Shield match against the Rabbitohs for the sixth consecutive year.
The club cannot overly rely on both Hunt and Graham alone to lift them back into the promised land, with others such as Matt Dufty, Jack de Belin, Paul Vaughan and Tyson Frizell all having to contribute to some degree as well.
Of particular interest will be how the new halves pairing of Gareth Widdop and Ben Hunt will operate. This is set to be their most stable halves pairing since Jamie Soward and Ben Hornby led the club to the 2010 title.
Already, next week’s season opener against the Broncos is already looming large for the club, none more so for Ben Hunt, who is to be unleashed against the club he represented 189 times between 2009 and 2017.
Highlighting their commercial appeal, seven of their first eight games will be televised on Channel Nine, including the aforementioned Round 1 match against the Broncos, as well as both of their derbies against the Sharks.
Apart from their two biggest signings, it will also remain to be seen whether they have learnt the lessons from their capitulation in the second half of last season, which cost them a finals berth and undoubtedly frustrated their large legion of fans.
And so, the time for excuses are over and it’s now up to the Dragons to deliver on what is expected of them in 2018.
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