Fast starters St George Illawarra confident they will continue NRL charge
NOTORIOUS for bursting out of the blocks and sitting near the top of the NRL ladder in the opening months, the challenge for St George Illawarra is simple.
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DRAGONS players are confident they can keep the good times going — even beyond “April”.
Notorious for bursting out of the blocks and sitting near the top of the ladder in the opening months, the challenge for St George Illawarra will be to maintain their form for the entire 26 rounds.
Since coach Paul McGregor took the reins, the Dragons have twice been second on the ladder after eight rounds, only to get the wobbles in the second half of the season.
Now the leaders, the Dragons can make it three wins on the trot when they travel to Toowoomba to play the Gold Coast on Sunday, and possibly stretch the record further when they host Newcastle and South Sydney.
“We’ve traditionally been strong starters, and that’s because our pre-seasons have been so challenging and it gets everyone in the best frame of mind,’’ Euan Aitken said.
“But the whole message during the pre-season has been consistency.
“We’re impressed with the first couple of games, but it means nothing if we’re not consistent. We’re playing the Titans, who have typically not been a top-eight side, but last year we kept losing to the bottom-eight sides.
“The Titans have a lot of attacking options across the park, but if we turn up ready to go, I think we can get the ‘W’ again.’’
Aitken said the arrival of Ben Hunt and leadership of Pommy prop James Graham were two reasons he believed the Dragons would not run out of puff.
Tyson Frizell said the arrival of Hunt would go a long way to helping close out tight games, which the halfback and Gareth Widdop did last Thursday in the come-from-behind derby win over Cronulla.
“Last year we probably would have gone away from what was needed and lost that game,’’ Frizell said.
“Knowing how to stay in the fight and playing to your strengths, we struggled to do that at different stages last year.”