St George Illawarra consolidate their spot on top of the ladder with a 32-8 win over Manly
THE Dragons have solidified their place at the top of the ladder with a thumping 32-8 victory over Manly in Wollongong on the back of some attacking brilliance from their star halves.
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ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA have taken an outright lead at the top of the ladder with a 32-8 win against Manly.
The Dragons scored six tries to one to move two competition points clear of South Sydney, Penrith and the Warriors after they completely outplayed the Sea Eagles at WIN Stadium.
The last time the Red V was atop the ladder this late in the season was back in 2010 — the year they won the premiership under coach Wayne Bennett.
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It was their 11th win from 14 games this season, giving their fans a reason to believe they can go all the way in 2018 for the first time since the joint venture’s maiden title.
Ben Hunt and Gareth Widdop showed why they’re the premier halves pairing in the competition this season as they controlled the game to lead their side to victory in front of 13,060 people.
New South Wales coach Brad Fittler will also be breathing a little easier after his five Origin representatives — Tyson Frizell, Jack de Belin, Paul Vaughan, and Jake and Tom Trbojevic — got through the game without any injury concerns. While halfback Hunt had no issues and will take his place for the Maroons next Sunday night.
With Blues forward Reagan Campbell-Gillard ruled out of Origin II with a broken jaw, Tariq Sims did his chances no harm when he beat three defenders to score on the stoke of halftime.
Sims will be again named in Fittler’s Origin squad, but is competing with Gold Coast prop Ryan James for the vacant position in the 17.
The Dragons halves combined for a classy try early in the second half when Hunt threaded a perfect kick from dummy-half and his halves partner won the race to the ball for a try.
Everything was going right for the home side in the second half. Even big prop James Graham bagged his first try in Dragons colours — his second four-pointer in three years.
“We’ve got a purpose from within our squad with what we want to do to give ourselves every chance at the back end of the year,” Dragons coach Paul McGregor said.
“We want to finish as high as possible. To stay two points clear is really good.
“That’s the third game in 11 days for our Origin players. We were on a five day turnaround with our Origin players. We are into that tough period but it’s not over yet.”
Dragons fullback Matt Dufty also continued his impressive start to the season. He pulled of one of the best try-saving tackles of the year when he denied Manly Joel Thompson of the opening try. The backrower looked to have scored a certain four-pointer, but the young fullback used his brute strength to hold the veteran up over the line.
Dufty then followed it up with a slick move for the opening try. He stepped passed a defender before sending a beautiful cut-out pass towards the wing of Kurt Mann to give the Dragons a 6-2 lead after 26 minutes.
Moments later Tim Lafai extended his side’s lead to eight points when he snuck down the short side from dummy-half for a four-pointer.
Manly’s injury crisis got worse when young centre Moses Suli left the field midway through the first half with a sternum injury.
The only highlight for the Sea Eagles was when rookie Tom Wright split through the Dragons line to claim his first NRL try in just his second career game. The 20-year-old utility had won a bench spot after the NRL refused to grant Manase Fainu a spot in the top squad because the game’s bosses deemed they already had enough hookers.
Manly coach Trent Barrett slammed the NRL’s decision not to register the youngster and said the club will try everything they can to get him on the field.
“It’s going to be extremely hard for us to make the semi-finals. I’d love to be able to give the 19-year-old kid, who’s a genuine hooker, 11 weeks of first grade. But we’ve been denied that. I just don’t agree with it,” Barrett said following his side’s 11th loss of the season.
“If we had a genuine number nine sitting in the top 30 then it’s a different story. I think all we’re doing is denying a kid of an opportunity and denying us probably more of an opportunity.”
“I just question the whole idea about your six development players, and by my understanding they’ll probably change it next year, but that’s not going to help us now.”
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 32 (J Graham T Lafai N MacDonald K Mann T Sims G Widdop tries G Widdop 4 goals) bt MANLY 8 (T Wright try T Hodkinson 2 goals) at WIN Stadium. Referee: Alan Shortall, Jon Stone. Crowd: 13,069