Round 2 vs Sharks

[Old Timer]

But Mary is the one banging on about burnout & travel(player welfare)but chooses to under utilise our bench this game, last game & all of last season.
To avoid a fade out they need to be just as fit at the end of the season as the beginning and not using a full bench doesn’t support that.
I reckon he’s a hypocrite in light of all of that.

Re the travel stuff imagine if he was the Warriors coach boy oh boy he could milk that longer than a farmer could a cow.

 

[Brutalitops]

What a monstrous game from Ah Mau, and excellent performances from Nene and Aitken.

 

[Life's Good]

Re the travel stuff imagine of he was the Warriors coach boy oh boy he could milk that longer than a farmer could a cow.

Stopped reading at ‘imagine he was the Warriors coach’. If only....

 

[Crush]

Take the 2 points Dragons!
It wasn't pretty but great to see us 2 from 2.
To all the bitches moaning about bench rotation, their favourite players didn't get a run, the coach sux, they were lied to that certain players were just depth player....pull your heads in! We won. Stop your bitching and be happy for once you soft cocks!!!!!!!!

 

[Dragsters]

His chase now makes me think, "we do have speed", I gave him no chance & gladly ended up with egg on my face…..

Don't forget we have Friz as well.

Remember he chases down wingers too!

 

[Dragsters]

TOLDYA on Monday.
Pfft, keep up.

I picked us by 4 in our tipping comp.

Happy days...

 

[Old Timer]

OK Nene this is for you and enjoy the moment but whatever you do don't f**k up next week

 

[Old Timer]

Take the 2 points Dragons!
It wasn't pretty but great to see us 2 from 2.
To all the bitches moaning about bench rotation, their favourite players didn't get a run, the coach sux, they were lied to that certain players were just depth player....pull your heads in! We won. Stop your bitching and be happy for once you soft cocks!!!!!!!!

How dare you interrupt my pessimism with all this optimism, shame on you.
Close the door of my cupboard and turn the light off when you leave.

 

[Frank Facer]

I picked us by 4 in our tipping comp.

Happy days...

I have 2 entries in 2 different tipping comps. One entry is my personal tips and the other entry I just tip the favourites. Today I overruled the bookies in my favourites tips and tipped us.

 

[saintzrule]

3 points for Nene his best game for the club and very well done

Ah Mau!!!!

 

[The Damo]

Honestly a lot to like in that win. (Plenty to improve on yes) One of our biggest problems last year was mental resilience as a team, and staying in the game after the sharks played a pretty near perfect first half and then winning shows real improvement in that aspect.

 

[Dragsters]

Gutsy win.
Sharks completed 100% first half with strong breeze and we stuck in there.
Down to 12 men late in the game and we go ahead of them.
Dugan with his traditional dropped ball over the line made me smile, he did that playing for us four times last year.

Dugan should have left the field for a HIA but didn't...

 

[Dragsters]

Honestly a lot to like in that win. (Plenty to improve on yes) One of our biggest problems last year was mental resilience as a team, and staying in the game after the sharks played a pretty near perfect first half and then winning shows real improvement in that aspect.

Yep, even under loads of pressure tonight we still looked composed (unlike last season) and continued to make great yardage.

Good signs for the season ahead...

 

[Dragonsteve2]

I though sele was ok .
Imo jackson ford was strong.
But as for the rest poor to average.
Ehst did you think Steve

Yes, Samy, I agree about Jackson Ford. I am embarrassed to say that it took me ages to realise that it was Sele in the 18 with the head tape. Yes he was busy, I was annoyed that I couldn't name him! Some other blokes just didn't get their chance because the team kept turning over possession so often. Just disappointed in a number of the young prospects. I expected a top team this year.

Very strange at halftime with the players seated in chairs on the field that Matthew Head did not speak to them in the first 5 minutes or so of the interval. Even if he had just kept repeating "hold the bal" and "use the wind to play down the other end" would have had more value than zero communication.

 

[mickeylane]

Yes, Samy, I agree about Jackson Ford. I am embarrassed to say that it took me ages to realise that it was Sele in the 18 with the head tape. Yes he was busy, I was annoyed that I couldn't name him! Some other blokes just didn't get their chance because the team kept turning over possession so often. Just disappointed in a number of the young prospects. I expected a top team this year.

Very strange at halftime with the players seated in chairs on the field that Matthew Head did not speak to them in the first 5 minutes or so of the interval. Even if he had just kept repeating "hold the bal" and "use the wind to play down the other end" would have had more value than zero communication.

Head has no idea - I’m surprised a coach like Mick potter couldn’t be appointed at the development level to get these promising youngsters doing the simple things right.. the current coaching is not up to scratch

 

[getsmarty]

Widdop ice-cool as Dragons run down Sharks

• 
  Mitch Jennings

Local Sport

EPIC WIN: Jason Nightingale wrestles with the Sharks defence in his side's 20-16 win over Cronulla on Thursday night. Picture: AAP
IF JOSH Dugan is on “centre money”, Valentine Holmes is on “fullback money” and Matt Moylan is on “halves money” then how much money is Dragons skipper Gareth Widdop worth?

“All of it” was the answer from Dragons fans after Widdop iced three clutch goals in blustery conditions to steer his side to a come-from-behind 20-16 win over arch-rivals Cronulla on Thursday night.

As expected, Dugan turned out at fullback for the Sharks with Valentine Holmes shifted to the wing. He enjoyed a strong first half but it was Widdop who had the last laugh as he steered his side to the win.

The Dragons were lucky to even be in the game at halftime having enjoyed just 35 per cent of the ball, but remarkably found themselves in front when Widdop nailed the conversion of Euan Aitken’s 56th minute try from the sideline.

It came after the hosts completed a near perfect 20 of 21 sets in he first half, with Holmes producing the first turnover via an intercept pass in the 39th minute – ironically his first involvement from fullback.

It saw the Sharks lead 14-4 at the break on the back of tries to Jason Bakuya and Sosaia Feki and an 11th minute penalty goal to Chad Townsend.

Nene Macdonald produced an early candidate for try of the year seven minutes before halftime, snatching a Widdop kick out of the stratosphere and planting it just inside the in-goal chalk.

It momentarily stemmed the bleeding, and the Dragons were right back in the hunt after Tyson Frizell’s try five minutes into the second half. When Aitken crossed 11 minutes later the comeback was on in earnest.

Josh Dugan

In a match full of momentum swings, Feki’s 62nd minute intercept of a wayward Matt Dufty pass turned the match on it’s head. Feki raced up field where he was reeled in by Dufty with Jason Nightingale sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul in the chaos that followed.

It allowed Townsend to square things up at 16-all before Widdop nailed a penalty goal of his own from 30 metres out to take a two-point lead with 11 minutes left. He knocked over another two minutes later to extend the lead to four as his side looked to hold on.

The Sharks pressed hard for the go-ahead points and went desperately close five minutes from fulltime time when Moylan spilled the ball five metres out from the Dragons line in the scramble that followed a Townsend bomb. It was as close as they got, with the Dragons good enough to play out the clock and limp to victory and send the, to that point raucous, Sharks fans to the exits before the final siren.


http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/5287477/widdop-ice-cool-as-dragons-quell-sharks/?cs=302

 

[getsmarty]

Shane Flanagan frustrated, Paul McGregor delighted as St George Illawarra Dragons run down Cronulla Sharks 20-16

• Local Sport
  
  
  
  Tough night: Sharks fullback Josh Dugan makes an error against his former club the Dragons. Picture: Chris Lane
  With a minute to go, Shane Flanagan rose from his seat on the sideline and walked off down the tunnel.
  
  He had seen enough.
  
  A dismal second half performance from Cronulla saw the Sharks go down 20-16 to bitter local rivals St George Illawarra on Thursday night, leaving Cronulla with two losses from their opening two matches of the season.
  
  The Sharks were electric in the first half, shooting out to a 14-0 lead on the back of an almost perfect opening half hour at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
  
  But their second half performance was equally as bad. Errors upon errors, the Sharks continually invited St George Illawarra back into the match.
  
  The Dragons didn’t need much of an invitation. With a strong wind behind them, the visitors controlled an important 10 minute period in the second half when Jason Nightingale was sent to the sin bin.
  
  St George Illawarra won that period 4-0 with two Gareth Widdop penalty goals. The Sharks’ poor recent home record continued, they lost seven of their 12 home matches last season. And for Flanagan, his side simply didn’t deserve to win.
  
  “It was really disappointing. One error in the first half then we trotted out 10 in the second half. They’d probably be disappointed with their first half and we’re terribly disappointed with our second half,” he said.
  
  “You just can’t do it. Some of the errors we made in the second half were fundamental. Kicking out on the full, not catching kick offs and so on. I’m really disappointed. We showed the way we can play in the first half.
  
  “We were our own worst enemy.. it’s hard to work out.”
  
  Much of the pre-match build up had surrounded Flanagan’s decision to move Josh Dugan to fullback, with Valentine Holmes shunted to the wing to accommodate his Australian teammate.
  
  Holmes endured an unhappy night, struggling to get involved and making some uncharacteristic errors. For the most part Dugan was impressive against his former club, carrying the ball strongly from the back and safe against the Dragons’ kicking from halves Widdop and Ben Hunt.
  
  But Flanagan played down the switch as having any effect on the result.
  
  “Both of them had errors in their game today but it had nothing to do with the position they were playing. The game was so close, Duges had an opportunity to score a try and he didn’t get it down,” he said.
  
  “We can bang on about Valentine playing on the wing. His best position for us at the moment is on the way and that’s where he’ll play. I’ll talk to him about his game, he had some errors in it. He’s an Australian winger and we need to pick it up, not only him but everyone.”
  
  Paul McGregor, who never won at Shark Park as a player and lost his first two games here as a coach before last season, now has two wins in a row in the shire. The Dragons’ coach was delighted with the gutsy fightback from his team, who have now won their opening two matches to sit top of the table.
  
  “They did [show plenty of courage]. The Sharks were playing some good footy, there was a fair breeze. So we just needed to swing that possession around and get that field position. And keep the Sharks under 16 points which we managed to do tonight,” he said.
  
  “You don’t come here to win pretty. You come here to scrap to win. And we scraped well tonight.”

http://www.theleader.com.au/story/5...delighted-as-dragons-run-down-sharks/?cs=1633

 

[getsmarty]

Dragons secure big derby win over Sharks
Author
Chris Kennedy
Timestamp
Thu 15 Mar 2018, 09:53 PM

St George Illawarra have produced an impressive comeback from 14-0 down against a Cronulla side that went from perfect in the first half to amateurish in the second to finish 20-16 winners at Southern Cross Group Stadium.

The Sharks made just a single error in the opening 40, with a powerful wind at their back but disintegrated in the second as the Red V came storming home.

The Sharks' one error of the first half – an intercept pass from Valentine Holmes, doing his chances of a recall to fullback few favours – came in the 38th minute as they finished with 20 of 21 completions in the first 40 minutes.

Some skyscraping bombs from Matt Moylan, in particular, gave Dragons fullback Matt Dufty a torrid time, though he did admirably in most cases.

A curious attacking grubber from Ben Hunt – that barely shaved his boot and went nowhere – was scooped up by Tyson Frizell for a 46th-minute try that brought it back to 14-12.

Dragons centre Euan Aitken – close to the best player on the field – produced a brilliant try saver on Josh Dugan which he followed up shortly after with a powerful charge for a try of his own to claim the lead for the Red V heading into the final quarter.

With Cronulla looking shot to bits, Sosaia Feki made a long-range break after intercepting a Dufty pass that culminated in Nightingale being penalised for a professional foul.

The Sharks made the curious decision to waste two minutes of the sin bin period taking the level-up penalty goal then made a huge hash of the rest of the stanza, barely completing a set and giving up plenty of penalties as the Dragons took two penalty goals to reclaim the lead 20-16 while down a man.

Despite a few chances in the final 10 minutes, the Sharks' discipline did not improve as the Dragons closed out an impressive 20-16 win to remain on top of the Telstra Premiership ladder.

https://www.dragons.com.au/news/2018/03/15/dragons-secure-big-derby-win-over-sharks/

 

[getsmarty]

 

[getsmarty]