‘Embarrassed’ Dragons thrashed to start new era
Jasper Bruce |
Winless St George Illawarra are “embarrassed” to have begun their post-Shane Flanagan era with a 62-16 thrashing from the Sydney Roosters in their traditional Anzac Day clash.
The tumultuous week that began with Flanagan’s axing ended in the Red V barely landing a punch in a dire first match under interim coach Dean Young.
The last-placed Dragons have now lost 12 games in a row, eight of those this year, and not since South Sydney’s 12-game slide to begin 2006 has a team started a season with so many consecutive defeats.
Two sin-binnings, two tries that resulted directly from Mat Feagai failing to wrap up kicks, and an inability to defend their tryline for any stretch left St George Illawarra 34-4 behind at the break at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
But the contest had been over even earlier than that, and any hopes of a sugar hit under new coach Young and debutant halfback Kade Reed faded with it.
The bloodshed continued in the second half as the joint venture slumped to the second-biggest score they have ever conceded – dwarfed only by a 70-10 loss to Melbourne 26 years ago.
“I’ve got a group of players that are embarrassed by the performance we tossed up today,” Young said.
“They’re obviously down on confidence at the moment, and everybody would be if you’re in the situation we’re in.
“But I was certainly expecting a better performance than what we showed. At the moment, we’re playing the opposition, and we’re playing the Dragons as well.”
An inability to handle any kind of adversity was a major through-line for the Dragons.
In the set after James Tedesco ripped through a feeble Luciano Leilua tackle to set Sam Walker up from long range, Feagai spilt a Daly Cherry-Evans kick and allowed Siua Wong to score the Roosters’ second try.
Leilua then went to the sin bin for a late, high shot on a kicking Walker, and the Tricolours ran in two tries to go up 22-0 while he was gone.
The Dragons leaked two more while out-of-sorts Dan Atkinson was sin-binned for a professional foul, one of those coming as Rob Toia reefed the ball right out of Feagai’s hands.
Things did not improve after the break, with Atkinson throwing a forward pass only 15 seconds into the second half.
When the match officials missed a clear knock-on from Connor Watson in the ruck, the Dragons defence wilted on the next play and Reece Robson burrowed over to score.
Leilua inexplicably kicked the ball dead after a Dragons knock-on and the Roosters used the ensuing seven-tackle set to go the length of the field and score through Daniel Tupou.
On debut in the Dragons’ biggest game of the year, 20-year-old Reed toiled hard and looked to have set up the first try of the game with a cut-out pass to Feagai.
But referee Grant Atkins spotted an earlier Tyrell Sloan knock-on and pulled the play back, with the Dragons leaking their first try five minutes later.
Young found positives in Reed’s first hit-out as an NRL player.
“I was proud of him. It’s a tough ask going into Anzac Day when you’re 0-7. I thought he did his best,” Young said.
Mature age rookie Setu Tu was at the centre of all three of the Dragons’ tries down the right side, but no teammates provided consistent attacking spark.
The Roosters remain entrenched in the top eight with their fourth consecutive win.
“Overall, the 80 minutes, the attitude was really clear and also the execution for the most part was really clear,” said coach Trent Robinson.
AAP