NRL 2021 St George Illawarra v New Zealand: Dragons’ dream run ruined by RTS magic
St George Illawarra supporters made sure former Dragon-turned-Warriors coach Nathan Brown received a good welcome back when the clubs met on Sunday.
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His first contract when he arrived at Jubilee Oval was a pittance. He thinks it was $3000 a year but could even have been a penny-pinching $2000. Yep, just 50 bucks a week.
To try and put some decent tucker on the dinner table, the aspiring footballer would return to Kogarah the day after a game to earn some extra money by cleaning the playing field and picking up garbage left behind by fans on the eastern hill.
He would collect trash for cash. These were financially challenging times for a 19-year-old Nathan Brown. He could trash for cash.
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That was back in 1992 when Brown was a woolly-haired blond kid starting to make his mark as a professional footballer with his boyhood club, St George.
He would sit on the old reserves bench for first grade alongside his mate, Gorden Tallis, just hoping for a call-up into the big game.
After all, a winning bonus was worth $2000 – two-thirds of Brown’s entire annual pay. Even a loss was worth $1000.
On Sunday afternoon, back at Kogarah, Brown earned his cash again – this time as the Warriors coach who masterminded victory against the Dragons.
Committed and determined, New Zealand ended St George Illawarra’s four-match winning streak with a 20-14.
Pre-game, Brown walked into Netstrata Jubilee Stadium and saw a myriad of old faces.
His mates from yesteryear now have their own kids.
No matter who Brown coaches, Kogarah will also be his home. He arrived as a kid in 1991 and left as a dumped coach in 2008.
Twenty-seven of his 47 years on earth were spent at Kogarah in the Red V.
In a post-game interview with The Daily Telegraph, Brown said: “The memory that stands out most here – and we often talk about it – was back in the day when we were kids earning contacts worth $2000, $3000. We were also working full-time earning $200 a week.
“We would sit on the bench.
KEEP SCROLLING TO READ DRAGONS-WARRIORS MATCH REPORT
“Back then there were two fresh reserves and 15 blokes from reserve grade and under 21s.
“First grade had a good side through the ‘90s and if they were home in a game with 15 or 20 minutes to go, we’d all be looking up at ‘Smithy’ (then head coach Brian Smith) in the coaching box and be warming up on the sideline.
“When your whole contract was $3000 and you got $3000 for going on, you’d be asking ‘Smithy’ if you could get a late run: ‘Put me on’… they were great days.
“As much as we wanted to play first grade, we were thinking about the match bonuses as well.
“We were playing bench Lotto. You were always happy if you got on or you’d be dark at Gordie if he got on.
“I also worked at the Leagues Club back then doing a management course.
“And if we got a Saturday or Sunday game, we would come back and clean the oval the next morning for an extra quid.
“You’d play, go and have a couple of beers and then get up real early and come back the next day and clean up the hill. Good ol’ days.”
Brown played 120 games for St George, another for 52 St George Illawarra while coaching the joint venture Dragons in 151 matches.
That made 323 games for Saints on field and in the coaching box.
He arrived as a cheeky lad and left as a family man.
“This place has been a big part of my life. I got here at the end of 1991 and left at the end of 2008. The fans that were young kids back then now have their own kids. The older fans are now grandparents,” Brown said.
“This is a fond place for me. A lot of my life was spent here. I was roughly 17 or 18 years old to 36 or 37 before I went to England (to coach Huddersfield).
“A lot of people I spent time with as a player and coach back then were in the crowd today, they are diehard Dragons fans.
“A lot of the board members are still here as well.
“People say you can’t leave a place in a good way, but when things are handled respectively by the people above you, you can leave and keep great relationships.
“There are probably a few other clubs that could take a tip from that, you know.”
His Warriors side have now won three from six games this season.
They went set for set with Saints, looked organised in attack and completed 21 from 21 sets by halftime.
New Zealand scrambled well in defence and ran the Dragons around.
But Brown denied victory was special against his former club.
“For me and my family, the Dragons are always my second team. I love seeing the Dragons do well, just not when we play them,” Brown said.
“Getting the result makes me feel good but not any better because I’ve still got so many good friends here.
“They have had a great start to the year and hopefully they keep going.
“The fans were brilliant when I came into the ground. They would say: ‘Good luck, just not today’.
“They are very respectful and we all know how passionate the Dragons fans are, don’t we. They are outstanding people.”
Brown’s team earned immediate respect from losing coach, St George Illawarra’s Anthony Griffin.
“The opposition was very good – we gave them points they didn’t earn and it came back to bite us,” Griffin said.
“The only earned one try. The Warriors are underestimated as a team, they did a really good job on us.”
MATCH REPORT: DRAGONS’ DREAM RUN COMES TO DRAMATIC END
– Matt Encarnacion
Warriors star Roger Tuivasa-Sheck responded to Matt Dufty’s ambitious target of being the best No.1 on Sunday by claiming the match-winning try, then declaring: “You gotta leave your actions on the field.”
Dufty almost gave St George Illawarra their fifth straight win when he showed off his trademark speed to steal the lead midway through the second half in Kogarah.
But Tuivasa-Sheck also proved why he was once crowned the Dally M medallist with a sensational solo try, beating three defenders to claim the game-deciding four-pointer.
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Kodi Nikorima then sealed the 20-14 win with a penalty goal, not only ending a two-game losing slide, but snapping a four-game Dragons winning streak that had fans dreaming of a finals tilt.
Tuivasa-Sheck’s clutch play capped off a vintage performance in his 100th game for the club, which included a game-high 233 metres, seven tackle breaks and two line breaks to go with his try.
The Warriors No.1 admitted hearing about Dufty’s pre-game comments in the lead-up.
“But you gotta leave your actions on the field. We’ll see how everyone else sees it,” he said.
“Most weeks I go in with a personal challenge against the opposition, against whoever’s playing No.1. Dufty’s been (in) form, he’s doing really well.
“So it was another personal challenge for myself to go out there and try and beat my opposition.”
His contribution also comes a week after coach Nathan Brown chastised his halves for leaving Tuivasa-Sheck running around like a goose in last week’s heartbreaking loss to Manly.
The Warriors laid the foundation for the win by completing a near-perfect 39 of 40 sets, eclipsing the remarkable 45 from 47 they finished with in the corresponding fixture last season.
The win lifts Brown’s side into the top eight with a 3-3 record – the first time the New Zealand-based club have been in the top half of the ladder this deep into a season since 2018.
It is also their first victory in Kogarah in 17 years.
DRAGONS POOR STARTERS
Winger Cody Ramsey opened the scoring for the home side before the visitors took the ascendency through Tohu Harris and Paul Turner tries.
The Warriors had a four-point halftime lead after Dragons winger Mikaele Ravalawa claimed his 16 try in his past 19 games.
Dragons coach Anthony Griffin pinned the defeat on another slow start – a concerning trend that had been overlooked during their winning run. But not by him.
“We’ve been doing that most of the season, we’re offering up 12 points and today it came back to bite us,” he said.
“Even though we’ve been winning, the last few weeks we’ve come up with some cheap points for the opposition. It hasn’t hurt us ... but we come up against a really good committed side.”
The game also marked the club debut of Josh McGuire following his mid-season move from North Queensland, re-uniting him with his former Brisbane coach in Griffin.
“I thought he was good. He carried the ball strong, he worked really hard defensively. I think he ended up playing 55 minutes straight,” Griffin said.
CENTRAL ISSUES FOR WARRIORS
Six minutes into his comeback from a knee injury, Peta Hiku is again looking at an extended sideline stint after reeling out of a tackle that left him with a suspected shoulder dislocation.
Centre partner Adam Pompey also limped off with a possible knee injury late.
With summer recruit Euan Aitken also at least another month away with an ankle problem, Brown will be scraping the barrel to fill his three-quarter line against Melbourne next week.
Brown mentioned young Rocco Berry and mid-season signing Reece Walsh – widely tipped to be their future fullback – as possible options, while Paul Turner filled in off the bench.
Asked about Walsh’s chance of selection, Brown said: “We won’t say too much at the minute.
“We’ll certainly have to look at some options. We’ve got a few things we can do with the team. We’ve got some young blokes there that, they need to play footy to get good.”
RAVALAWA RESPECT
Dragons fans have a love-hate relationship with many of their players, and that doesn’t exclude winger Mikaele Ravalawa.
Wing partner Cody Ramsey gave the home side the early lead at Nestrata Jubilee Oval before the visitors took the ascendency through Tohu Harris and Paul Turner.
But Ravalawa responded by continuing his under-appreciated try-scoring run with a powerful charge to the corner to get the Dragons within four at halftime.
It was the Fijian’s 16th try in his past 19 games, and seven from nine at Kogarah, before Dufty and Tuivasa-Sheck traded four-pointers midway through the second half.
BEN ON HUNT FOR ANZAC CLASH
Halfback Ben Hunt is a chance to face the Sydney Roosters in their annual Anzac Day clash at the SCG, four weeks after breaking his leg in their round three win over Manly.
The Dragons missed Hunt’s playmaking against a stubborn Warriors’ defence, with the hosts’ attack spurning several opportunities in good-ball position.
Adam Clune is likely to make way for Hunt’s return.
“He had a big run yesterday (Saturday). It’s still touch-and-go. He’s a chance, I don’t think he’s a good chance, but we’ll see how he feels after yesterday,” Griffin said of Hunt.
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