Matt Dufty shines as Dragons down Raiders 25-18

A SENSATIONAL performance from flying St George Illawarra fullback Matt Dufty won the game, won the fans and even outshone a Dragons team overflowing with NSW Origin hopefuls.

Dragons forward Tyson Frizell on the charge against the Raiders at Glen Willow Oval in Mudgee.

SO how did Matt Dufty see it?

The rest of us, we saw nothing. No opportunity at all.

Instead, with nine minutes to play and the scores locked 18-all, what we saw was the St George Illawarra fullback on halfway with two defenders right there in front of him.

One, Canberra prop Dunamis Lui. A fella who outweighs Dufty by 25 kilos.

And the other, Raiders five-eighth Blake Austin, whose own afternoon had been spent, time and again, felling Dragons star Tariq Sims on his own tryline.

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Matthew Dufty on the burst for the Dragons against the Raiders.

Truly, if the Canberra playmaker has ever defended better than this sunny Sunday, we cannot remember it.

Which is why, as Dufty looked down that left edge from halfway, Steeden in hand, there appeared to be zero options.

At least to everyone but him.

“Instinct,” the Dragons No. 1 grinned afterwards of the stunning solo try that eventually proved to be the difference. “My body just kept moving and next thing I was over the line.”

Wasn’t he what?

After splitting the two defenders on that left edge, Dufty then raced away upfield before looping right towards the posts — evading both Raiders centre Jarrod Croker and fullback Jack Wighton along the way.

Matt Dufty was superb for the Dragons against the Raiders at Glen Willow Oval in Mudgee.

So again, what did he see that no one else did?

“I saw a front-rower in front of me,” he grinned, referencing Lui. “I backed myself to skip around the outside of him, and did. And Austin, he stayed out.

“To be honest, I was actually more worried about what Wighton was doing at the back.

“I knew if I went for the (left) corner he probably would’ve got me. That’s when I came back infield and found Croker covering, so I went infield again.

“I knew we needed a big play so I thought ‘why not?’. Just did my thing.”

Apart from getting the Dragons home, the run was one of two standout efforts from the fullback, who ran for 146m, made seven tackle busts and helped secure another 50m Dragons try — this time by kicking for five-eighth Gareth Widdop.

Jack De Belin celebrates a try with his Dragons teammates.

Started by Dragons rake Cameron McInnes, the nine broke away from inside his own half, then offloaded to Jack De Belin, who in turn found Dufty ... and the perfect kick ahead.

“Usually it’s Gaz kicking for me,” the 22-year-old Hurstville flyer said of his brilliant try ­assist. “I wanted to pass but couldn’t see any way of getting it across to him.

“The only way was to kick ... and Gaz is always telling me to back myself.”

Apart from St George Illawarra fans — and those Mudgee Dragons working beer tents around Glen Willow Sports Complex — the afternoon was also a strong one for Blues coach Brad Fittler.

For the Dragons’ NSW Origin hopefuls, they were better than even the $4 steak sandwiches.

All of them.

Like Dragons back-rower Sims, who ran for 161m, more than any other player on the field. Paul Vaughan was not far behind on 150m.

Canberra opened the scoring but couldn’t finish things off.

McInnes was strong. Tyson Frizell too.

As for Jack De Belin ... well, he scored a try, made six tackle busts, three offloads, two line breaks, ran for 131m and made 31 tackles — including a massive hit on Raider Luke Bateman.

The Raiders, meanwhile, were left to rue several key disciplinary errors.

In the second half, winger Jordan Rapana was binned for 10 minutes after preventing opposite Nene Macdonald from scoring via a professional foul.

The Raiders also had Josh ­Papalii and Joseph Tapine on ­report, both for tackles on livewire Dufty, who made a couple of errors early in the game — including a simple fumble — before responding in style.

“After making errors he didn’t go quiet,” Dragons coach Paul McGregor said.

“Instead, he grew. Then got us back into the game with sheer brilliance.”

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 25 (J De Belin M Dufty G Widdop tries G Widdop 6 goals G Widdop field goal) bt CANBERRA 18 (N Cotric J Leilua J Rapana tries J Croker 3 goals) at Glen Willow Regional Sports Stadium. Referee: Ashley Klein, Peter Gough. Crowd: 8,962

Originally published as Matt Dufty shines as Dragons down Raiders 25-18