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They can’t all be classics. We’ve been spoiled so far in the 2023 NRL, and it’s no surprise the recent spate of close, high-quality games had to come to an end. You need the dark to appreciate the light.
The Dragons 38-12 win over the Dolphins was a bit like that. Anthony Griffin hasn’t shown any inclination towards aesthetics in the past and won’t care one jot that this vital two points for his side was a bit of a snoozefest.
For an hour, until the Dragons decided to come to the party with the game all-but over, this was exactly that. Hook could do with a few more of them.
It seemed on the cards from early on, was exacerbated when Anthony Milford limped off with a hamstring injury and was set in stone by a bizarre decision, trailing 12-6 with two minutes to go in the first half, by the Dolphins to take a penalty goal. It was the last chance they’d get at a try for a long time.
St George Illawarra managed to move the score along late to give the victory some gloss as the Dolphins, for the first time in their short NRL history, failed to aim up.
“I think you’ve all been waiting for this performance,” said Wayne Bennett in the post-match media conference.
“We all thought it’d happen in week one, but it didn’t happen in week two, three or four. We’ve been up for a month and we’ve kind of played in two semi-finals, to be candid with you. They’ve handled it.”
Anthony Griffin, still fighting for his job, opted to enjoy the moment.
“I enjoy tonight for the players and everyone involved in the club, because last week was nowhere near what we’re about,” said Hook.
“That’s the hardest part of the game when you let each other down. What you play for is what they’re feeling in the sheds now because they know they all had a red-hot crack together.
“I thought it was the most complete performance we’ve had this year. They played for each other. Last week we were way off, but to their credit they bounced back well. We knew last week wasn’t us.”
The Dragons have made an art form of defeating the teams worse than them in an efficient, if unspectacular style and though they currently trail the Dolphins on the ladder, this was an ur-example of the Griffin playbook.
St George Illawarra, for 40 minutes, played perfect Hookball: they completed at 90%, made basically no errors, got on top in the field position and waited for the mistake.
Blake Lawrie and Jacob Liddle scored bargeovers from very short range, with the prop now becoming their top tryscorer for the year. That tells its own story.
Zac Lomax grabbed another, slightly fortunate try just after the restart and, with the contest settled, the Dragons actually began to play some footy. They can do it when they feel like it.
Lomax is the key to this. When he got ball, and got licence to use it, he looked good. Mikaele Rawalava, who has barely touched the footy in good ball across his previous appearances this year, looked excellent close to the line.
Tyrell Sloan looked revelatory playing in shape, and showed what a threat he can be. It’s great for the Dragons, and for their coach, who needed a win.
But it may only anger their fans more, who will wonder why this can’t happen more frequently, or why they need their opposition to be on their last legs before they decide put some air under the footy.
For four rounds straight, the Dolphins have come to the game with a pretty sensible, if conservative, gameplan: complete and compete.
Where the Dragons can be criticised for that kind of footy, given the resources at their disposal, that isn’t true for the Dolphins. They’ve built a side to not get thrashed and jag a few wins where they can, while building for next year and the many years after that.
There’s a problem in this: the first 17 can enact that gameplan pretty effectively, as we have seen. They don’t lack experience, especially in the forwards, and everyone bar Isaiya Katoa is a solid first grader.
Katoa is more than that, and will be a superstar, but he needs someone to go with him. Redcliffe lost Sean O’Sullivan, almost the perfect player to bring a rookie half through, and then replaced him with Anthony Milford, who limped off injured very early today. Kodi Nikorima, who could have covered, is also out.
It goes a long way to explaining that strange penalty goal early on. Much as a Wayne Bennett side always love a free two points, it also reflected how they didn’t think they had many points in them.
The likes of Mason Teague and Jack Bostock might well become excellent players, but they probably wouldn’t be playing at any other side in the comp right now. The depth of the Dolphins is laid bare in moments like this.
That’s fine, too. They’ve already achieved more than anyone expected in year one and it would be surprise if they finished last, as many predicted them to do. But for the Dragons, certainly, this was a good day to play the Dolphins.
“I will look to the skies and say a few prayers,” said Bennett. “We should have Kodi back next week, unless you can find another (half) for me.
“Anthony could be out for three or four weeks, we will have to deal with it. Those guys are your key players, but we are better than that.”