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Wayne Bennett’s tenure as St George Illawarra coach opened in stunning fashion as the Dragons crushed Sydney Roosters in their first match under the veteran coach.
After 21 years in Brisbane, Bennett’s impact looked immediate in a 54-6 belting of the tri-colours at Members Equity Stadium in Perth.
Much-maligned for beating themselves with errors and wasted opportunities, the new-look Dragons instead made Brad Fittler’s side pay for a number of gaffes, including knock-ons to start the first two quarters.
The joint venture side led 30-6 at half-time in steamy conditions before an enthusiastic 9,832 crowd, with centre Chase Stanley, back-rower Beau Scott, fullback Brett Morris and winger Michael Lett each scoring a brace of tries.
The writing was on the wall for the Bondi Junction side when prop Frank-Paul Nuuausala knocked-on from the kick-off and after a quick scrum win, Dragons centre Matt Cooper put winger Michael Webb over in the left corner.
Then Sydney’s restart went out on the full and New Zealand international Stanley scored.
The second period saw further tries to Stanley (22) captain Dean Young (34) and Scott (37).
And while new recruit Darius Boyd was denied a try off Wendell Sailor’s grubber in the 57th-minute, the Broncos import managed to cross the stripe with 12 minutes to go anyway, after a long break from Ben Creagh.
Lett crossed again in the final minutes to add some extra gloss to the Dragons’ scoreline.
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