St George Illawarra Dragons defeat Penrith Panthers 42-10 in round one boilover

THE scoreline shocked few. But the fact it was in St George Illawarra’s favour meant the first boilover of the NRL season had happened.

Joel Thompson celebrates a try. pic Mark Evans

THE 42-10 scoreline shocked few. But the fact it was in St George Illawarra’s favour meant it was officially the first boilover of the NRL season.

The Dragons were friendless in 2017. Tipped by most to challenge only for the wooden spoon while this was supposed to be Penrith‘s year.

In front of a crowd of 7283 at UOW Jubilee Oval, a revamped St George Illawarra raced in seven tries to two, and looked unchallenged by one of the competition heavyweights.

It was the Dragons’ highest tally since August 2, 2015 with Joel Thompson scoring his first hat-trick and skipper Gareth Widdop crossing twice and laying on two others. Widdop’s 22 points equalled the club record.

PLAYER RATINGS: Dragons v Panthers

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Joel Thompson celebrates a try against the Panthers. pic Mark Evans

St George Illawarra’s power game proved the difference early. New recruit Paul Vaughan was damaging in the opening exchanges while Jack De Belin produced arguably his best performance, highlighted by a solo try. Hooker Cameron McInness gave the Dragons a much-needed point of difference with the ball while Widdop and Josh Dugan also starred.

Under-pressure Dragons coach Paul McGregor said his side had enjoyed being written off.

“You create a good environment when you’re winning,” McGregor said. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in our playing group. I would like them to value themselves very high.

“I don’t want to talk about last year. The boys have worked very hard over the last 16 weeks. Play like they’ve trained. We’ve been working on playing each play instead of playing the set out. The boys had intent and backed their fitness.

Waqa Blake defies gravity to score in the corner for the Panthers.

“We needed a boot up the backside after the Charity Shield. It was a blessing. We created some things that day that we saw. The score line (against Penrith) I didn’t predict that. I thought we would be in for a fight against the team that people think would win the comp.”

The Panthers never recovered after a poor start. Their new halves combination of Nathan Cleary and Te Maire Martin will take time to grow.

They could not get any traction after their forwards were monstered by a hungry St George Illawarra side.

Bryce Cartwright’s defensive lapses were again on show, with opposing back-rower Thompson scoring twice with similar plays within minutes to start the game.

McInnes laid on the first try by shaping wide before passing to Thompson with a short ball, creating enough space between Cartwright and fullback Matt Moylan for Thompson after four minutes.

Jack de Belin charges forward for the Dragons.

Thompson had his second 20 minutes later, with a similar angled run but this time the short ball came from Widdop. Again he beat Cartwright — who was not helped by an out of sorts Martin — to have the Dragons leading by 12.

Despite the hosts dominating field possession and territory, the Panthers clawed their way back through a freakish try by Waqa Blake. He tiptoed near the sideline to have the Panthers trailing 12-4.

Any hopes of an unlikely first-half recovery were quashed shortly before the break when a rampant De Belin surged past five Penrith defenders to score a brilliant solo effort. De Belin left a trail of Panthers including Moylan, Peter Wallace and Leilani Latu on the ground as he raced 15 metres for a remarkable try.

Penrith coach Anthony Griffin could feel the game slipping from his side’s grasp early.

“Defensively we weren’t at the same intensity as they were,” Griffin said. “It’s a credit to them. They came at us really hard. It led to us making errors.

“They just got on a roll and we couldn’t hold them. At times we got back into the battle but in the end they were far too good.”

The Dragons led 18-4 at halftime. Their new-look halves combination of Widdop and Josh McCrone combined for the next try. McCrone shaped to kick on the short side before booting it inside with Widdop outpacing Moylan for the four-pointer.

Penrith scored next via Tyrone Peachey but their joy was short-lived. Dugan laid on the Dragons next try before Widdop completed a rare double.

Thompson closed out on the scoring spree with a 70th-minute try, bringing the small home crowd to their feet.