The St George Illawarra Dragons have stunned the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, racing away 30-point winners and overcome a host of injuries to key players including five-eighth Gareth Widdop.
It was supposed to be the most straight-forward result of the weekend as the in-form Broncos took on the struggling Dragons at Suncorp Stadium.
Brisbane had won seven straight finals matches at their home ground while the Dragons had lost 10 on the trot at Lang Park.
After a tight opening, where the Dragons and Broncos both traded penalty goals, it was the home side that eventually broke through after Kodi Nikorima beat Jack de Belin and sent David Fifita over in the 17th minute.
However, Brisbane handed possession back to the Dragons after the restart and the Red V responded immediately when Tariq Sims crashed over two minutes later.
The Dragons’ big men had been heavily criticised heading into Sunday afternoon’s game. Yet they were proving the difference early as Leeson Ah Mau surged over in the 28th minute to extend St George Illawarra’s lead to four.
Brisbane’s ill-discipline was gifting the Dragons field position and to their credit they took full advantage as Sims crossed over for another two tries within the space of five minutes to earn an unlikely first-half hat-trick.
A late penalty goal saw Widdop push the Dragons out to an 18-point lead at the break.
Any chance of a second-half comeback from the home side was quickly quashed in the 47th minute when Tim Lafai steamed over.
Yet momentum quickly turned minutes later when Darius Boyd sliced over in the 54th minute to reduce the deficit to 20. And suddenly the Dragons, already without James Graham (concussion) and Jack de Belin (ankle) found themselves down to just 14 men when Widdop re-injured his shoulder.
The Broncos went back-to-back when Nikorima took on the line and crossed over in the 57th minute and suddenly the home side were in with a shot.
But errors continued to rob Brisbane of any chance of a fightback and the Dragons eventually sealed the victory in the 70th minute when Luciano Leilua steamed onto a Cameron McInnes grubber.
The Red V left the best until the last minute, rewarding their loyal fans as Zac Lomax raced away and kicked ahead for Matt Dufty who scored a scintillating try on the buzzer.
The dominant 48-18 win will see the injury-plagued Dragons march on to take on South Sydney next Saturday at ANZ Stadium.
Meanwhile, 2018 is all over for the Broncos, who stormed into September off the back of three-straight wins. They did lose forwards Joe Ofahengaue and David Fifita during the match to injury, but ill-discipline and errors cost them in the end.
The disappointing exit means that Wayne Bennett looks likely to leave the club in the coming months.
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