‘Proud of him’: Reed to hold Dragons’ halfback jersey
Jasper Bruce |
Dean Young has backed Kade Reed to remain St George Illawarra’s halfback even after the Dragons slumped to a 62-16 thrashing in the 20-year-old’s highly-anticipated NRL debut.
Young’s first call as interim coach was to hand Reed his debut in the traditional Anzac Day clash against the Sydney Roosters, played only days after the Dragons sacked predecessor Shane Flanagan.
The Roosters put on a clinic at Allianz Stadium to push the Dragons’ losing streak to 12 games, eight of them to start this season.
But, replacing Kyle Flanagan in the No.7 jersey, Reed provided glimmers of hope on the biggest stage of the Dragons’ regular season.
Reed looked to have set up the first try of the game with a beautiful cut-out ball for Mat Feagai, only for an earlier knock-on to mean the try was rescinded.
Later in the first half, Reed applied rare attacking pressure for the Dragons by chipping over the line and forcing a goal-line dropout.
In the next set, the Dragons came close to scoring when Val Holmes fielded a daring cross-field kick from Reed on the second tackle.
The next play, Reed shifted right and Setu Tu grabbed the Dragons’ first four-pointer.
“I was proud of him,” Young said of Reed.
“It’s a tough ask going into Anzac Day when you’re zero and seven, and I thought he did his best. He’s got a lot to work on, but I thought there were some good signs there.”
Young was unsure whether he would take an axe to his team as the Dragons prepare to face Newcastle after their round-nine bye.
Feagai had a particularly tough afternoon, twice failing to wrap up kicks in the lead-up to Roosters tries, while Dan Atkinson provided limited attacking spark at five-eighth.
“We just had 62 points put on us, so I’m not even thinking about what team selections are,” said Young.
“I need to look at the video and go from there.”
But on one player, Young was unequivocal.
“Kade will be our halfback against the Newcastle Knights,” Young said.
As he plots to help the Dragons out of the mire, Young will draw on his experience as an assistant coach at North Queensland.
The Cowboys lost 10 consecutive games in 2021, only to surge into the top four the following season and come within a converted try of a grand final berth.
“We had a plan and we stuck to it as a coaching group,” Young said.
“I’ve been here before, but there’s a lot of hard work before you get to that.”
AAP