Dugan stars, Cartwright struggles: Dragons-Panthers player ratings

FIND out who starred and who struggled in the Dragons stunning 42-10 victory over the Panthers in our NRL player ratings.

Joel Thompson of the Dragons celebrates a try during the St George Illawarra Dragons v Penrith Panthers NRL round 1 game at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah. pic Mark Evans

JOSH Dugan starred and Matt Moylan struggled as the Dragons pulled off the first shock of the season with their 42-10 victory over Penrith.

The power of the Dragons forwards was a real highlight as backrower Joel Thompson charged over for three rampaging tries.

Find out who else did the job in our NRL player ratings.

Josh Dugan 8.5 Hugely influential. Has to be a re-signing priority for the club	FULLBACK	Matt Moylan 6.5 Hard to fault his effort but he wasn’t immune when it came to mistakes.
Nene Macdonald 7.5 Imposing with his size and threw it around to great effect.	WING	Dean Whare 4.5 Was he even out there? Barely featured in the game.
Euan Aitken 7 Solid with the footy and defence on Peachey a real feature.	CENTRE	Waqa Blake 7 Brilliant athleticism for try and looked threatening on occasions.
Tim Lafai 7 Hardly worth a crumpet last season but appears to have turned it around	CENTRE	Tyrone Peachey 6.5 Saw plenty of the football but was well contained.
Jason Nightingale 5.5 Decent involvement but cancelled out by his errors	WING	Peta Hiku 6 Wore an early shot to the face and wasn’t the Panthers’ worst.
Gareth Widdop 8 Further proof he is a far better player without Benji next to him	5/8	Te Maire Martin 7.5 A talent with the football. Some great touches and will only get better.
Josh McCrone 7.5 Played direct, went to the line – did everything his coach asked for.	H/BACK	Nathan Cleary 6 Can’t blame a 19 year old halfback for his forwards being rubbish.
Russell Packer 7 Churned through the metres and looked like he relished every minute	PROP	James Tamou 5.5 Hardly the start he wanted at his new club. Average at best.
Cam McInnes 7.5 Fantastic first-up effort. Composed, creative and gave direction.	HOOKER	Peter Wallace 6 Worked hard in defence but no spark. Rein will be putting pressure on
Paul Vaughan 8.5 Big money recruit who is worth every cent on that performance.	PROP	Reagan Campbell-Gillard 5 Completely over-shadowed by the Dragons’ forwards.
Tyson Frizell 8 Ripped in and was going as hard at the end as he was at the start.	2ND ROW	Bryce Cartwright 4 Seven missed tackles and some poor options with the footy says it all.
Joel Thompson 8 Tore Panthers to threads on left edge with great line running for hattrick	2ND ROW	Isaah Yeo 7 One of the few Panthers forwards to come out of game unscathed.
Jack de Belin 8.5 Has the footwork of a ballerina in a sledgehammer’s body. Outstanding.	LOCK	Trent Merrin 4.5 Just four carries for the game. Hard to remember him making less of an impact.
Tariq Sims 7 More than held up his end with some tough carries and defence when thrown on.	I/CHANGE	James Fisher-Harris 3 Came up with a crucial mistake in the limited time he was out there.
Leeson Ah Mau 6.5 Handy big man to bring on and didn’t disappoint.	I/CHANGE	Leilani Latu 4.5 Bad miss on De Belin when he scored and didn’t offer a whole lot off the bench.
Jacob Host 4 Didn’t have a lot of time to impress.	I/CHANGE	Tim Browne 7 Will be pushing for a starting spot on that performance.
Jai Field 2 Given the final 10 minutes just to get a bit of a taste.	I/CHANGE	Moses Leota 5.5 A couple of decent carries but not much of an impact.
118	TOTAL	96