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St George v Manly

G

getsmarty

Immortal
Messages
33,486
Dragons survive Sea Eagles scare
Sun 23rd July, 04:00PM
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The St George Illawarra Dragons have survived an early second half scare to produce a 52-22 win over the Manly Sea Eagles at WIN Stadium, Wollongong on Sunday afternoon.

The Dragons started the game off nicely when a Josh McCrone bomb landed nicely in the hands of Jason Nightingale, who lunged over for the game's first in the eighth minute.

Nightingale looked good for his second try in the 15th minute but would miss a Gareth Widdop bomb, only for Tim Lafai to pick up the scraps and score out wide.

Skipper Widdop scored the Dragons' next when he intercepted a Daly Cherry-Evans pass and raced 90 metres to post further points in the 26th minute.

Euan Aikten's effort in the 33rd minute followed when he capitalised on a Nene Macdonald slap back of another McCrone bomb.

The Dragons rounded out the first half scoring through Jacob Host to put the Red V up 30-0 at the break.

The Sea Eagles started the second half in enormous fashion when Dylan Walker slammed the ball down two minutes into the stanza.

Darcy Lussick's sin-binning for punching Jack de Belin didn't prevent Manly's mini-comeback as his little brother Joey scored on debut in the 48th minute.

Jake Trbojevic scored three minutes later and Akuila Uate scored again soon after that to put the Sea Eagles back within eight points.

A clutch catch from Nene Macdonald finally helped the Dragons wrestle possession back which led to Paul Vaughan scoring midway through the second half.

This was followed up three minutes by NRL debutant Matt Dufty who put Jason Nightingale over in the corner for his second try of the game.

Euan Aitken had his second try in the 67th minute but would quickly leave the field due to a shoulder injury.

Dufty capped off his NRL debut with a try of his own in the final minute to secure the 30-point victory.

St George Illawarra Dragons 52 (Jason Nightingale 2, Euan Aikten 2, Tim Lafai, Gareth Widdop, Jacob Host, Paul Vaughan, Matt Dufty tries; Gareth Widdop 8 goals) defeated Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 22 (Dylan Walker, Joey Lussick, Jake Trbojevic, Akuila Uate tries; Daly Cherry-Evans 2, Jackson Hastings 1 goals) at WIN Stadium, Wollongong. Half-time: Dragons 30-0. Crowd: 16, 883

http://www.dragons.com.au/news/2017/07/23/dragons_survive_sea_.html
 
Dennis Papaioannou

Dennis Papaioannou

Bench
Messages
2,866
Gareth67 said:
I had to have a bit of a chuckle a few minutes ago . Watching Nines footy and Ray Warren was saying what a unbelievable score for the Dragons against the plucked Eagles . He said to the viewers that it was no mistake , the Dragons had prevailed over Manly by that MASSIVE score .

As he finished , someone , I don't know whom , said the Manly side was hit with injuries ( ? ) and Warren said that " we are talking about a score line of over 50 points " . Well spoken Ray and to the imbecile who mentioned the injuries, we also had Duges out and had our own walking wounded - Fizzell and Packer with pain killers .

That score will live not only in our memories , but also the Manly supporters for many years to come , how wonderful !
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Don't forget Thompson in the warm up.
Injuries are just part and parcel of being a team in the NRL.
 
Crush

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,836
Dragonsteve2 said:
Crush, I am really delighted to be able to congratulate you on your pre-game confidence and that of others like Blood Shot Eyes. But I can assure you I am just as happy to dissect a good result as much as a poor one. I am sure that goes for a lot of others on the Forum. Yes, after awhile, you can pick up the names of those who just like to have a whinge but then you can easily skip their posts.

I have been out of the country for 7 weeks with internet so poor I have not even had vision of the highlights packages in that time. But miraculously today I could pick up the replays of some of the tries scored through the Sydney MH website. However I continue to rely on the Forum to gain a better understanding of the team's performance.

I am positively thrilled by what I can gather of Matt Dufty's performance. I have watched his highlights reel many times, have seen him play 4-5 games in U/20s and a similar number this year in NSW Cup before I left the country. The step up to NSW Cup has meant he doesn't get the latitude to run the length of the field to score like in the 20s. But I have seen him play like Boyd used to, setting up his outside players in a way Dugan can't. And he has the ability to slice through a hole. I gather he showed some of these attributes today.

I never make a claim to expertise in rugby league. I am a Dragons fanatic and not a rugby league strategist. I was a rugby player in my youth and only played a couple of games of league. So I do feel entitled to ask, if it has been so easy for me and others to observe Dufty's qualities how blind is Mary who has the boy at training 5 or 6 days/week and must have seen him play countless times?
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Can't answer that mate as I have no idea what happens within the club. Maybe Mary wasn't confident in Dufty but today took a gamble given our circumstances with injuries etc. Maybe Mary knows something that us observers dont. Maybe Mary was wrong and has finally seen the light. Whatever it is, I am glad that he selected him today and that he played so well.
Today is a good day!
 
M

Mickthedragon

Juniors
Messages
1,716
Great game to be at despite the nervous moments and well played Dufty. We came out very timid in the 2nd half and glad it was turned back around again.
Packer seems to be lazy and below par at present. Vaughan was awesome and got them going forward again and offloading when he came back on for Packer. You could really see the difference he made.
 
Crush

Crush

Coach
Messages
10,836
Blood Shot Eyes said:
I agree and hes hitting the line like a marshmallow compared with before
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Good job Blood Shot Eyes for keeping the faith this week.
Next week is another week and will be tough to win.
Lets hope that Mary does the right thing and selects Dufty at 1 with Dugan at center or on the bench or left right out.
Go the mighty saints!
 
B

Blood Shot Eyes

First Grade
Messages
6,215
Really pleased for the team and all supporters this evening and dont wont to detract from todays win which I believe will do us the world of good but after we bathe in the sunshine for the next 24hrs its back to the drawing board in a big way......after being 30 up we took the foot off their throat and allowed 4 tries in 12 mins.....I know to our credit we came back at them but Mary really needs to look and work on our marker defense.....the ease with which Manly strolled upfield in those early minutes of the second half is of a big concern....we have put on notice to other teams in the comp that we are not done and dusted but we have also highlighted the fact that we are very vulnerable up the middle......
 
B

Blood Shot Eyes

First Grade
Messages
6,215
Crush said:
Good job Blood Shot Eyes for keeping the faith this week.
Next week is another week and will be tough to win.
Lets hope that Mary does the right thing and selects Dufty at 1 with Dugan at center or on the bench or left right out.
Go the mighty saints!
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You to mate.... lets get the reverse psychology happening on The Knights this week....pleased for young Dufty like others on here am a big fan......cant see Mary changing things to much though in regards to Dugan....will be interesting to see if Duges and Aitken plays and Dufty is retained maybe on the bench....unfortunately may be at the expense of young Mann
 
D

Dragonsteve2

Juniors
Messages
549
Crush said:
Can't answer that mate as I have no idea what happens within the club. Maybe Mary wasn't confident in Dufty but today took a gamble given our circumstances with injuries etc. Maybe Mary knows something that us observers dont. Maybe Mary was wrong and has finally seen the light. Whatever it is, I am glad that he selected him today and that he played so well.
Today is a good day!
Click to expand...

Very easy to agree with you, Crush, on it being a good day. And I do agree on always enjoying the win as much as possible. It may be that this day will be long remembered as the day that Matt Dufty made his NRL debut. Always happy to read your positive comments - I realise that sometimes the Forum can get a bit gloomy so please keep the positivity going!
 
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