St George Illawarra piled on the misery in a 38-12 success against the lowly Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles tonight in front of 9,253 fans at WIN Stadium.
The Wollongong hoodoo continues for the Sea Eagles. St George Illawarra dealt in doubles tonight, Zac Lomax and Matt Dufty, both scored twice alongside tries from Cody Ramsay and Brayden Williame late gave the joint venture side a two and one start to the season.
Coming off their result in Townsville, Dragons were hot early. Lomax lept high to open the scoring then some sublime touches from Tariq Sims and Corey Norman sent Matt Dufty across for 12-nil. Youngster Cody Ramsay profited off a good set play from Ben Hunt to make it three tries to none after a half hour.
Dragons based their game on defense tonight, the home side were forced to repel the Sea Eagles from their line several times either side of the break. Like last week, the Sea Eagles handling let them down and there wasn't the wet conditions to excuse them this week.
The Sea Eagles scored through Reuben Garrick late in the first half to bring it back to 18-6 then a late consolation to Daly Cherry-Evans from some smart work got them into double figures. It will be another week of intense scrutiny on the club as they remain on the duck egg.
Once they quelled the storm, Dragons set about putting the finishing touches on the contest. Lomax's penalty goal put them up 14 points before Dufty continued his golden run down in the 'gong with his second try, again from the hand of Norman.
From there, it was celebration time down by the city meets the sea. Lomax completed his double from a Hunt grubber then a hard line from Brayden Williame gave the Dragons their sixth four-pointer of the evening. Early signs but the Dragons look far from the predicted spoon through three weeks.
Much of that comes from Ben Hunt. The halfback looks rejuvenated under the leadership of Anthony Griffin. He has the captaincy, steered the side around and provided a pair of try-assists for another Man of the Match performance. He even earnt an early rest to avoid further aggrevating his cork.
Young Dragons centre Zac Lomax produced a personal tally of 22 points from his double and seven goals which took his streak to 22 straight goals kicked. Lomax was on the fringe of representative football last season and might make the leap in 2021 if he continues this form. On a whole, the Dragons backline which has been a worry in previous seasons, has found their edge.
Next weekend will be a big test for the resurgent Dragons side. They head to the Hunter to face Newcastle Knights on Sunday while the Sea Eagles face another tough task back on home turf when they welcome last year's runners-up Penrith Panthers.