Matt Dufty shines on debut as Dragons smash Sea Eagles 52-22
THE Dragons rediscovered their form in the countdown to the finals and might also have found their answer to life after Josh Dugan.
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LITTLE Matt Dufty, all 81kg of him, reckons it was a day he will cherish forever. And so might St George Illawarra fans.
The Dragons rediscovered their form in the countdown to the finals and might also have found their answer to life after Josh Dugan.
In Fox Sports commentary, even the great Cooper Cronk spoke glowingly of the 21-year-old filling in for the injured Dugan in the 52-22 flogging.
In the under-20s, Dufty scored 54 tries in 65 games.
And when he stepped up in front of 16,883 fans in Wollongong, the rookie who brings back memories of a young Billy Slater performed like he was born for the big stage.
On debut, Dufty finished with a try and two try assists in the nine-tries-to-four thumping.
It is the first time the Dragons have scored 50 points in a decade, and the 30-0 half-time lead was their biggest since 2001.
With skipper Gareth Widdop also outstanding with a try, three try assists and eight of nine goals, the Dragons moved to 24 competition points with six rounds of the regular season remaining.
On Sunday night Dufty was smiling like it was Christmas in July.
“I have never experienced anything like it before,” Dufty said.
“It was just the best feeling.
“I will cherish it forever.”
The Dragons now only need to win three of their remaining six games at most to lock up a finals spot.
They play the Knights in Newcastle on Saturday before taking on the Rabbitohs, Titans, Broncos, Panthers and Bulldogs.
“I am just excited about winning again,” Paul McGregor said.
“We said last week we wanted to start building on our performances going into the back end of the year.
“That was a great sign today.”
While almost everyone turned up expecting Manly to win, the Dragons gave it to them from the opening whistle.
And while they let their foot off the throat long enough for Manly to fight back to 30-22 midway through the second half, the Dragons regrouped with four late tries, including the lucky last to the kid who grew up dreaming of this moment.
With Dugan leaving the club next year, Paul McGregor has already acknowledged the Dragons’ aim is to look within to fill Dugan’s spot at fullback.
But all Dufty wanted was to enjoy the moment.
“It was still the fastest and hardest game I have ever played,” he said.
“I don’t know if it was the adrenaline but I just loved it.
“(What happens next year) is not really on my mind yet. It will be in pre-season but that is a couple of months away.”
After dropping seven of the past 10 games, including last week’s golden-point loss to Canberra, McGregor couldn’t have been more pleased with the overall performance of his players, especially his halves.
“I thought our kicking game from our halves was the best it’s been,” McGregor said.
“That goes a long way to getting the result we did.
“The amount of pressure we placed them under with our kicking game in the first 40 minutes was exceptional.
“We got three tries from kicks, which was nice.”
And while Dufty was celebrating on debut, it was a first for another young Dragons man.
Widdop’s six-year-old son Brayden got to carry the kicking tee for his old man.
“It was pretty special,” Widdop said.
“When I was a kid I wanted to be around rugby league and for him to get the opportunity to do it, he is pretty stoked. They are a part of our life, kids, and they really enjoy stuff like that.”
McGregor was especially satisfied after the Dragons had been written off in recent weeks.
“The most pleasing thing was the score,” McGregor said.
“To put 50-plus on any team in the NRL is exceptional.”
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 52 (E Aitken 2 J Nightingale 2 M Dufty J Host T Lafai P Vaughan G Widdop tries G Widdop 8 goals) bt MANLY 22 (J Lussick J Trbojevic A Uate D Walker tries D Cherry-Evans 2 J Hastings goals) at WIN Stadium. Referee: Alan Shortall, Ashley Klein. Crowd: 16,883
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