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Round 1 Dragons v Broncos at Kogarah

Drag Queen

Bench
Messages
2,981
NRL 2018: Ben Hunt stars as St George Illawarra’s spine fires in win over Brisbane
NRL Premiership
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Ben Hunt of the Dragons celebrates an intercept try.Source: AAP
BEN Hunt has showed exactly why St George Illawarra forked out $6 million for his services after the halfback put in a stellar performance in his side’s 34-12 win over Brisbane on Thursday night.

In front of a vocal crowd of 14,457 fans at UOW Jubilee Oval, Hunt returned to haunt his former club as the Dragons’ new-look spine of Gareth Widdop, Cameron McInnes, Matt Dufty and Hunt powered the Red V to their first win of the season.

The 27-year-old set up a first-half try for Tyson Frizell before scoring off an intercept shortly after the break.



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Hunt's revenge intercept try

0:55
“He built his game beautifully,” Fox League expert Matty Johns said of Hunt post-game.

“What was really important in the first half was patience and direction and he came up with a couple of big plays — a couple of repeats sets and laid on a kick for a try.

“I love the spine of the side. Hunt and Widdop are going to work. McInnes and Dufty are really clever.

“What I loved about the Dragons in the second half — in the first they looked like they were always trying to set up something — but they relaxed into their game and there was more flow.

“They hit them on one side, they hit the on the other. Less set up, more football.”


“The biggest strength of the Dragons has been Cameron McInnes out of dummy half,” Ennis said.

“The inroads they made through the Broncos’ forward pack — he’s had some really attacking runs through their centre third.

“He’s come out the other side and generated some quick play the balls.”

THE REPORT

Two of the NRL’s biggest pre-season stories collided on Thursday night when Hunt intercepted a Matt Lodge pass in the 50th minute. The No.7 ran half the field to score for the Dragons to take a 16-6 lead.

His intercept summed up the fortunes of both he and Lodge in a dramatic opening to the season at Jubilee Oval.

Hunt set up the Dragons’ first try when he grubbered out of dummy-half for the chasing Tyson Frizell, while his long kicking game was equally impressive in the first half.

Just as positive for Dragons fans is the impact he already appears to have on their new-look spine.


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Vaughan vomits after late hit

0:39
Widdop looked dangerous running the ball in attack, and struck up a nice combination with young fullback Dufty, who was as quick as ever through the midfield and on kick returns.

Hooker McInnes looked improved on last year. He ran freely from dummy- half in the first half to finish with 48 metres from his five up-tempo carries.

Jack de Belin, Jason Nightingale and Euan Aitken each finished with tries for the Dragons in their 50th win at Kogarah as a merged club.

Brisbane couldn’t find any cohesion after Jordan Kahu scored the first points of the NRL season for the third year in a row, this time through a penalty goal.

James Roberts scored twice for them in the second half, but the game was as good as gone after Lodge’s intercept pass.



The headline story of the past month, Lodge looked every bit the nervous player on return from his two-year exile, stemming from his infamous New York rampage.

Booed every time he touched the ball by the crowd of 14,457, he was whacked by a Frizell shoulder charge on his first run - earning the Broncos a penalty.

However, he was later penalised for a high shot on Dragons prop James Graham, and dropped a pass cold minutes later in the first half as he looked to take a hit-up.

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 34 (E Aitken J De Belin T Frizell B Hunt J Nightingale tries G Widdop 7 goals) bt BRISBANE 12 (J Roberts 2 tries J Kahu 2 goals) at UOW Jubilee Oval. Referee: Matt Cecchin, Alan Shortall. Crowd: 14,457.

— with AAP


https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...g/news-story/30031ecae2d7ba9a73d36c19ca001fea
Good stuff. I'm looking forward to watching it on rerun today. Great start to the season from what I've read :grinning:
 

BennyV

Referee
Messages
22,441
Pretty good start against a woeful opposition.
Very true Crush. Was thrilled to get the win first up, pumped with Hunt but we are far, far from a polished team and based on past years' experience, this is the same standard we can expect all year. As Gasnier mentioned after the game, Broncos dont have a go-to man at the moment, especially without Bird. They dont have a game manager and that will bite them.
 

Life's Good

Coach
Messages
13,971
The three best things of tonight for me were:
1. we put pressure on the kick - last year that was a rare event.
2. McInnis ran Fromm dummy half - making the defenders hesitate.
3. Lone speed in defence was much better.
4. we had runners cutting back in, not just the overlap plays to the wingers.

That’s 4 things but who’s counting:wink:.

Seriously though, McInnes showed again he has a running game. It works in tandem with Hunts running game. Still early days and we aren’t playing the Donkeys every week but there are good signs based on that vs. the trials.
 

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
Ben Hunt and Gareth Widdop make big impression as Dragons start new season with a bang
AAP, AAP
March 9, 2018 5:18am
GARETH Widdop and Ben Hunt say their combination at St George Illawarra is still in the working stages after the 34-12 pummelling of Brisbane in the NRL season opener.

But as far as first impressions go, this was something of a beauty.

Built off the foundation of one of the strongest forward packs in the competition, the pair combined brilliantly and were involved in everything on Thursday night.

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Ben Hunt made a great Dragons debut on Thursday night.


Hunt set up the Dragons’ opening try and scored his team’s next against his former club, while Widdop threw the last pass for two others. Critically, it marked the first time Widdop has played alongside a recognised and experienced No.7 at the club, having largely been forced to make do with regular five-eighths since his move from Melbourne in 2014.

“He’s a halfback who will go at the game, he’s not going to sit back and wait,” Widdop said.

“Obviously he did that tonight and I think every player tonight put their hand up tonight and played some good football.

“My combination with him is only going to get better with time. And obviously with (fullback) Matt Dufty there, it’s a pleasing first start.”

The duo who only united in January due to World Cup commitments, have had just eight weeks alongside each other at training.

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Gareth Widdop charges into the Broncos defence.
They are also one of 11 new halves pairings in the NRL this year, after Hunt’s $6 million signature at the Dragons kick-started one of the biggest market merry-go-round in the game’s history.

“It’s coming along really well,” Hunt said of their partnership.

I still think we’ve got a long way to go but he’s a freak footballer, Gareth.

“He knows the game so well. He keeps calling me to do different plays and I think we’re combining nice.”

Widdop is signed until the end of 2021 while Hunt will be at the Dragons until at least the end of 2022, with an option to stay for up to another year after that.


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Dragons press conference
They’re part of the reason why coach Paul McGregor spoke in the off-season about the club’s premiership window opening over the coming years. Another is the development of the rest of their spine.

Hooker Cameron McInnes - who was dangerous as ever out of dummy-half - is also there until the end of 2021, while Dufty still has his best seasons well ahead of him.

“He’s an exceptional player Cam, I’ve never seen anyone work as hard at training as he has,” Hunt said.

“And young Matt Dufty, he is coming along really well. I think there is plenty of improvement left in his fame and hr’s only going to get better as the year goes on.”



https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...g/news-story/9f5c9e680835538257955a899ca8e1de
 

Overseas dragon

Juniors
Messages
2,275
On the subject of the DONKEYS don't be surprised if the name NONA is not seen in the future.one thing Shaun does have is a good kicking game ,and J D knows him only too well just my opinion ......
 

SEAT 1A

Bench
Messages
3,089
2010 that was nothing short of back street thuggery , a real cowards act . Big Vaughan must have suffered an injury from that - I hope that the bronco is suspended for the same length of time that Vaughan is out - plus 2 weeks on top .


Cheap shot Gareth67.

Reckon he knew Vaughan was a decoy. I hope that will be put away and when we play them next, he will be black and blue.
 

ALSGI

Bench
Messages
3,101
Cheap shot Gareth67.

Reckon he knew Vaughan was a decoy. I hope that will be put away and when we play them next, he will be black and blue.
Unfotunately we only play Donkeys once this year unless we play them in finals.
But yes, I reckon PV will definately put that one in the memory bank for next time.
 

SEAT 1A

Bench
Messages
3,089
Unfotunately we only play Donkeys once this year unless we play them in finals.
But yes, I reckon PV will definately put that one in the memory bank for next time.

Bummer ALSGI. Hope they don't make it and Vaughany gives him a nice wave.
 

possm

Coach
Messages
15,587
I hope Aitken gets injured and Lomax gets the opportunity to show us how good he is.

Aitken showed some improvement last night. I think Nightingale, Lafai and Macdonald need to improve a lot in next weeks game against the Sharks. I was very supprised to see how well Aitken ran for his try and his try saving tackle, even though we was beaten on the outside, he came again and with some help saved the try.
 

jeffdragon

Bench
Messages
3,440
Great to see Graham give it to thaiday.
Thaiday old and slow.
Au mah was steaming up the field.
Lafai instead of throwing no chance passes ,should take the tackle.
Thought we should be further up at ht but the game changed on the Hunt intercept.
 
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getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,485
Hunt produces Dragons masterclass to haunt his former side
March 9, 2018 ricky Leave a comment
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cafcd8043e1b83b2532c8ed889833d37

Ben Hunt
Ben Hunt has come back to haunt his former side, the Brisbane Broncos, guiding his new club the St George Illawarra Dragons to a comfortable victory in the 2017 NRL Telstra Premiership season opener.

Hunt, who laid on a deft kick for a Tyson Frizell try and then scored a try of his own when he took an intercept off an errant Matthew Lodge pass.

All eyes were also on the return of Lodge, who many believe should not be back playing NRL.

Nevertheless, Lodge was solid in his first game back in a number of years with Broncos coach Wayne Bennett confident that the prop will be better for the long-run after his opening hit-out.

“You have to start somewhere,” Bennett said at the post-match press conference.

“We got him on the footy field tonight and got him playing football.

“He just needs to play football, he played football tonight. First game back in the NRL for three years. It’s the best thing that’s happened to him.”

The opening twenty minutes of the game proved to be a scrappy affair as three penalty goals put the Dragons up 4-2.

The opening try came soon after, though, when Ben Hunt weighed up the situation from dummy half and deftly kicked ahead as Tyson Frizell outpaced and outmuscled Anthony Milford to score.

With a 10-2 lead at the break, the Broncos were in all sorts after a lacklustre display.

Despite their best efforts to lift intensity and enthusiasm in the second half – which they did to some extent on the back of a James Roberts double – it was not enough for a poor Broncos side.

Inopportune errors continued to cost them as further tries to Euan Aitken and Jack de Belin sealed a comfortable opening win for the Dragons.

Bennett did not mince his words, laying the blame solely at the feet of the forwards.

“That first half was poor. We had no momentum, couldn’t get anything. Our ball control was 45 percent at half time,” Bennett said.

“The halves can’t play if the other guys aren’t doing their job.”

Dragons coach Paul McGregor praised his new halves duo for their performances.

“Gareth … I’ll embarrass him but he’s got bottomless talent. He likes to play instinctive footy,” McGregor said.

“When you wear the seven you’ve got to execute a game plan. They complement each other really well. That was just the start of something we can build over the year.

“You’ve got two competitive players on the football field, we’ve got some strike on both edges.”

Player of the Game:

3. Ben Hunt

2. James Roberts

  1. Jack de Belin
St George Illawarra Dragons 32 (Frizell, Hunt, Aitken, De Belin, Nightingale; Widdop 7/8) def. Broncos 14 (Roberts 2; Kahu 2/3)

http://www.nospam09.com/2018/03/09/hunt-produces-dragons-masterclass-to-haunt-his-former-side/
 

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