Dragons taste rare victory
May 04, 2007
ST George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown is happy his players finally believe they can win again after the morale-boosting 28-16 win over Penrith at Oki Jubilee Stadium.
The Dragons tried every manner possible to throw away the two competition points before eventually securing victory nine minutes from time through a try to Wes Naiqama.
The loss was the Panthers' fifth in a row, coach Matthew Elliott admitting "I'm probably in the middle of the desert with the vultures circling."
With Dean Young back in the side for his first game in eight and half months and co-captain Jason Ryles, Matt Cooper and Mathew Head back on deck, the home side had a more imposing look.
Still they started in familiar fashion with fumbles on their first two possessions including one to Jason Nightingale with his first touch in the NRL, but they recovered to eventually run out five tries to three winners.
"With Deano and Rylsie back training we actually thought we could win today," Brown said.
"We've been going into games the last three weeks where a lot of people weren't sure we could win. It showed in the way we played.
"Tonight we went out there as a team that thought we could win.
"That little bit of experience in some key spots ...those young blokes just needed a bit of support around them.
"A lot of fans and media think because a kid's playing first grade footy at 19, 20 that he's definitely a first-grader...it just doesn't happen over night – they need guidance and that's what those blokes offered."
Nightingale became the 10th Dragon to debut this year, but recovered from his horrendous start to score a vital try before the break.
The game was littered with dubious decisions by referee Sean Hampstead and his video assistant Bill Harrigan. Hampstead got the ball rolling in the seventh minute with his decision not to go to the video proving foolhardy as replays showed Luke Rooney's knee on the touchline as he touched down.
The controversy continued as Harrigan awarded Cooper his first four-pointer of the night, only a split hair the difference between his and Rooney's arm touching the corner post.
Panthers skipper Craig Gower accused the officials of squaring up the ledger in awarding the try, his anger heightened on the half-time siren when a Head forward pass sent 17-year-old Chase Stanley over for his third try in just his third game for an 18-10 lead.
The Panthers closed to within two points thanks to Rooney's second of the night three minutes after the restart, the beginning of a sustained period of dominance by the visitors.
But Penrith failed to capitalise on a host a try-scoring opportunities, Rooney denied a hat-trick by Harrigan with his foot brushing the sideline as he stretched out to score.
"It's hurting – there's no getting away from the fact," Panthers hooker Luke Priddis said.
"We played well for 60 minutes ... it just got to a point at that 60 minute mark when we got the chance through repeat sets on them but after that we just lost our way."
Priddis was one of the main culprits, an unforgivable forward pas from a 20 metre tap summing up the Panthers' night.
you should be winning nearly every game with the team you have but conspired to play one of the ugliest games i've seen in years. 8-4 what the f**k is this baseball? The Broncos won the arsiest premiership ever last year that rightfully should have been melbourne's you just got lucky with some very arsey displays against teams that choked on the night and suffered from the 'refereeing' 
