Dragons’ thrashing won’t rattle debutant Reed
Jasper Bruce |
A 46-point thrashing in his first NRL game won’t rattle Kade Reed, with St George Illawarra’s new halfback poised to keep chancing his arm in the fight to revitalise the Dragons.
Dean Young’s first selection call as interim coach was to hand pint-sized Wollongong product Reed his NRL debut at the expense of Kyle Flanagan, the son of ex-coach Shane.
The Sydney Roosters inflicted a 62-16 shellacking on the winless Dragons in the traditional Anzac Day clash, the first game of the post-Flanagan era.
But in a good sign for the NRL’s worst attacking team, 20-year-old Reed showed plenty of confidence with the football.
Reed looked to have orchestrated the game’s first try with a beautiful cut-out pass to Mat Feagai until an earlier knock-on meant the four-pointer was rescinded, and forced a dropout off his boot later in the first half.
At another point, Reed backed himself enough to kick over the top for Val Holmes on the second tackle, almost helping the veteran to a try.
Reed said it was in his nature to chance his arm.
“That’s my natural game, just doing that and playing what I see. Dean just really wanted me to do that and really backed me from the start,” Reed said.
“I felt like there was a couple of things that I did throughout the game where it was just playing my natural game and it worked. I was happy with that.
“But there’s a few things I need to tidy up on both sides of the ball.”
The determined Reed shrugged at suggestion his confidence could have been shaken by such a big defeat on debut.
“I don’t think so, obviously as a team we need to get better, but I don’t think so,” he said.
The last-placed Dragons are on a 12-game losing streak that dates back to August, but a patient Young will keep Reed at halfback when Saints return from their round-nine bye.
“That puts a lot of confidence in me to get my job done,” Reed said.
In his first full season playing against men, Reed is keen to continue packing on size.
He currently tips the scales at 79kg, some 35kg lighter than Jacob Saifiti, co-captain of the Newcastle team the Dragons face in round 10.
“Obviously it’s the NRL and it’s different but I’ve always gone up against guys that have 20, 30 kilos on me,” Reed said.
“I just need to put the work in to get the weight on and work on my defence techniques, and different stuff like that. I know I’ll get that weight on and get that side of the ball better.”
AAP