The difference was melbourne's exicution and pressuring the Dragons into errors and penalties around the ruck... Unlike previous weeks with +90% completion rate, St George were their own worst enemies, giving away little penalties late in a tackle count, and dropping the ball early.
Just like the Storm v Dragons game at Jubilee last year, it was a tough arm wrestle, and the final score didn't reflect how close and classy a game it was. I was salivating for more by the end, the footy was that good the score really didn't bother me.
As a Dragons fan though, I am getting very sick of seeing the exact same passing movement down the left side. Been using it for 12 months now, it will beat weak teams but not the good ones.
Since the Storm said they would use a sliding defence to shut us out, I was hoping we would use some of the bigger lads in the middle of the park with good passing games (Young, Prior, Pridis), short balls to second Rowers (Smith and Creagh), a more creative kicking game or push the ball right. The Dragons did these things a few times and they looked dangerous moving right or towards the posts a couple of times, only to make an error.
The first and third storm tries were very similar, with a playmaker running at Matt Cooper with a loose carry and threatening a step or long ball to the winger to pop it up. I bet Coops will be a bit pissed he was beaten twice the same way. And that was it. Those two very similar tries through the same defence hole was really the only difference between the two sides. Great footy.
Every other game so far this weekend has been pathetic in comparison though.
. Yep, Melbourne is here to stay, you got that correct. It's just a shame the NRL have had to do what they had to do to keep them as a viable entity.
