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The St George Illawarra Dragons have stunned the Brisbane Broncos, running up a huge victory in the second NRL elimination final at Suncorp Stadium. Here are my talking points from the game.
Are the Dragons really back, or was that false hope?
The Dragons might just be back in business. It’s going to take one hell of an effort moving forward, but they looked something like the team who terrorised the competition for three months and were sitting top of the table in dispatching the Broncos.
There were still quiet moments, sure. They were behind at one point. But they overcame that, put the foot down and ran away with the game.
I’ve commented previously, but one of the great traits of the Dragons is that their style of play – when playing well – seems to put other teams off, and that’s exactly what happened yesterday.
The Broncos played poorly, sure, but they were in the game and going well early. Once the Dragons started turning the screws, they turned to rubbish.
It was a truly dreadful period of either side of halftime which cost Brisbane the game, but the Dragons forced the pressure, played at the top of their game and walk away deserved winners.
While the Red V looked like the team they were at the start of the season, turning things around and making that consistent still may be a way off, especially with the potential injuries they sustained (more on this later).
The Dragons ran direct, played what was in front of them with less structure and did everything which worked for them during the first half of the season, and speaking purely as a fan, it was a joy to watch.
For now though, fans can enjoy the win and get ready for next Saturday, with their team at least partially turning a corner for the start of the finals.
Tariq Sims of the Dragons. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The Broncos got complacent
All the talk in the press during the week was that the Broncos simply had to turn up and they would win. Most on social media and here at The Roar believed that to be the case as well. This was supposed to be a walk in the park.
Heck, there were even reports the Broncos purposely stopped scoring last weekend so they could face the Dragons this weekend.
It worked out awfully for them, but when David Fifita scored an early runaway try to put the Broncos ahead by eight points, they seemed to get complacent.
As mentioned, the Dragons put the pressure on and made them play well below their best, but the Broncos seemed stunned and unable to turn it around.
That’s a sure fire sign they were severely under-prepared for the game and believed far too much of their own hype.
Let’s not get carried away – Ben Hunt still has a lot to work on
One of the big positives for the Red V was the performance of Ben Hunt. It was his best performance in quite some time, and given the knockers who have been all over him recently, to go to his old stomping ground in front of a hostile crowd and play like he did – that takes courage.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Hunt had a solid game, but it wasn’t spectacular.
His kicking game was good and he made the right options more often than not, but there were still some errors and he failed to take over when halves partner Gareth Widdop got injured.
With Widdop now to miss the remainder of the finals campaign according to all reports out of the Dragons sheds, the pressure is going to be on Hunt to take control again.
He has a lot of work to do if the Dragons are to keep kicking in the coming weeks.
Ben Hunt of the Dragons (AAP Image/Craig Golding)
Tariq Sims has the potential to be unstoppable
Sims started the year like a freight train and got back to that level yesterday, terrorising the Broncos on the left edge.
The big Dragons’ second rower has the potential to be one of the best in the competition, and arguably, for the first half of this season, he was right up there.
It got him a New South Wales Origin debut, and while his form has fallen away over the second half of the season, it wasn’t even the hat-trick of tries on Sunday which his effort will be remembered for.
Rather, Sims’ performance will be remembered for his intensity, how fired up he was and the fact he put on big hits and made big runs whenever the Red V needed.
There is no doubting it was one of his best performances for the year. He ripped in, and the emotion he displayed after each of the tries will show you exactly how much this finals series means to him.
The stats will show Sims only made 92 metres and 21 tackles, but he made every single one of them count. The tackles hurt his opposition, the runs were tough to stop and with a return to form, alongside a strong performance from Tyson Frizell, the Dragons can again have a claim their edge runners are the best in the competition.
If they continue on that level and get early ball, the sky is the limit.
It’ll be the same problems next year unless the Broncos mix up the halves
The one area Brisbane never quite mastered in 2018 came back to bite them yesterday.
Their inconsistency across 80 minutes and from week-to-week probably cost Brisbane a spot in the top four at the end of the regular season.
It looked like Wayne Bennett’s men had turned a corner coming into the finals though, putting a few wins on the trot together.
Unfortunately, in front of their home fans and in Sam Thaiday’s last game, they fell apart. One of the keys was neither Anthony Milford or Kodi Nikorima being able to take over the game and get them back into the contest until it was too late.
The duo are both primarily ball runners, and while they are great when Brisbane have the momentum and are on the front foot, the complete opposite occurs once they find themselves stuck in their own half and behind on the scoreboard.
Milford and Nikorima are both good players in their own right, don’t get me wrong, but as a combination they simply aren’t working.
They could get Brisbane to the finals again, sure, but winning the comp just looks unlikely unless one of them sticks their hand up as a good organiser.
Both have tried, and neither have been able to make it work.
Can the Dragons really hope to compete with South Sydney if there is no Widdop?
The worst news to come out of yesterday’s game for the Dragons was the injury to Gareth Widdop. Trying to stop a try, he re-dislocated his shoulder, which had never been completely fixed in the first place.
It was always a risk to send him on the field, given it was only strengthened over the last few weeks, rather than surgically repaired.
If it was early in the season, Widdop would have gone straight in for surgery, but with the finals around the corner, the decision was made to delay the surgery.
Gareth Widdop might not play again this year (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
In the end, it got him on the field and may have bought the Dragons an extra week, with his kicking game being quite strong through the first 50 minutes, but his season now looks over.
Not only that for the Dragons, but both Jack de Belin (leg) and James Graham (concussion) may struggle to line up next week.
At full strength and playing like they did against the Broncos, St George Illawarra might have been a chance against the Rabbitohs, but without all of those players, their only hope seems to be that the Rabbitohs are still incredibly fatigued from a trip to Melbourne.
In saying that, the Red V put in a gutsy performance to hang onto their lead with just 14 players left over 20 minutes from fulltime, so anything is possible.
Souths will go in as heavy favourites to advance though, and rightly so.
Roarers, what did you make of the game? Drop a comment below and let us know.