Dufty stars in Dragons trial win
Local Sport
STANDOUT: Matt Dufty breaks into the clear in the Dragons 24-18 win over Hull at ANZ Stadium. Picture: AAP
PRIOR to Saturday’s clash with Hull at ANZ Stadium, Dragons coach Paul McGregor said young-gun Matt Dufty had “the inside running” for the club’s No.1 jumper.
The 21-year-old now looks five lengths clear following his performance in his side’s 24-18 win over the Super League heavyweights.
The diminutive livewire asked plenty of questions of the Hull defence and ran for more than 200 metres in a 68-minute stint at the back.
He also linked well with new No. 7 Ben Hunt on the right edge and it appears only an untimely injury will stop him building on his seven NRL appearances come round one.
“He’s had a really good preseason, much better than his previous one,” McGregor said.
“He’s into his third one now so he’s a player we’re looking forward to seeing the best out of this year. I think what he’ll get out of it was that his conditioning was better than at any time last year.
“He’s a nice age, he’s put on a bit of weight, his speed is his asset. He’s a bloke who can cover a lot of ground and go between both edges. When the ball goes long he can get across the back on the next shift.
“It gives us another option to ball-play at the fullback position which we haven’t had for a while. After a tough preseason to go out and play like that was good for the kid.”
Dufty was the bright light in an otherwise patchy display from the Dragons who trailed 12-10 at halftime on the back of two tries to former Sharks and Titans half Albert Kelly.
Hull were match-hardened but far from full strength with skipper Danny Houghton and key forward Mark Minichello both casualties of their clash with Wigan in Wollongong last week.
Still, inspired largely by Kelly, the reigning Challenge Cup champions gave the Dragons all they could handle for the best part of the 80 minutes before Kurt Mann sealed the win five minutes from fulltime.
Just how much one can read into trial performances is a topic for debate but fans will hope the solid rather than spectacular performance was merely a case of blowing out the cobwebs.
In what was their first outing as a pair, new-look halves Hunt and Gareth Widdop linked only sparingly throughout, instead focusing their efforts on their respective edges.
Hunt ultimately put in a 72-minute stint while coach Paul McGregor pulled Widdop, Dufty and Cam McInnes from the park with the result still in the balance 12 minutes from fulltime.
McGregor said both Tyson Frizell and Jack de Belin, who missed Saturday’s clash, will return for next weekend’s Charity Shield against Souths as he hones in on his final 17 for round one.
“It was a good opportunity to give 25 players a bit of game time,” McGregor said.
“[Hull] played a couple of games and a couple of trials beforehand so they were bit [more] game-hardened.
“We’ve had a couple of opposed sessions and we probably took the game with that attitude defensively so we’ll need to be better.
“We got through the game with no injuries which is really good. Tyson [Frizell] and Jack de Belin will play good minutes next week against Souths.
“It’s all about round one, it’s not about today, it’s not about next week, but certainly building into round one’s important over the next two weeks.”
Kelly scored the opening try 10 minutes in, putting Jake Connor away down the right-hand flank and backing up on the inside to gather his centre’s grubber and plant the ball under the posts.
Marc Sneyd converted for a 6-0 lead. It was short-lived with Tim Lafai opening the Dragons account at the other end after a deft offload from Paul Vaughan.
Widdop nailed the sideline conversion to level things up and six apiece.
The Dragons took the lead through veteran winger Jason Nightingale, who crossed in the right-hand corner after a nice exchange of passing from Hunt and Dufty.
Widdop’s conversion attempt was waved away keeping he score at 10-6 12 minutes before halftime.
The visitors took the lead again through Kelly, who stepped his way across from close range to post his second try next to the posts. Sneyd added the extras for a two-point cushion at 12-10 five minutes out from the break.
Nene Macdonald scored out wide seven minutes after the resumption with Widdop’s conversion attempt bouncing off the upright and keeping the score at 14-10.
Macdonald had his second six minutes later with a tough finish from a Widdop long-ball to push the margin out to six at 18-12.
Hull leveled up quickly through prop Liam Watts who caught some sluggish Dragons defence napping on their try-line.
Sneyd made no mistake with the conversion again squaring the ledger at 18-all with 22 minutes to play.
Hull pressed hard for a a go-ahead try before Mann sealed the game for the Dragons five minutes from time after being re-injected into the match as a replacement for Widdop.
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