The Dragons kicked off their 2024 campaign and Shane Flanagan’s coaching tenure with a 28-4 win over the Titans on the Gold Coast behind a Tyrell Sloan hat-trick.
In a clash full of storylines, Sloan managed to steal the show thanks to a maiden NRL hat-trick, but it was far from a one-man show with several faces – both new and familiar – putting together standout performances.
Kyle Flanagan snagged a try in his Dragons debut with fellow recruits Tom Eisenhuth and Raymond Faitala-Mariner also playing a key role.
Match: Titans v Dragons
Round 1 -
home Team
Titans
16th Position
away Team
Dragons
2nd Position
Venue: Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
Viliami Fifita took the field and became St George Illawarra Dragon #272 mid-way through the opening half after his mother flew in from Tonga for his jersey presentation yesterday.
An early penalty put the Red V on the attack with Eisenhuth held up over the line only for a rampaging Faitala-Mariner to find a supporting Sloan with an offload for the opening points of the season the following play.
Zac Lomax threw over the extra two to make it 6-0 just three minutes into the encounter.
Francis Molo was replaced by younger brother Michael 15 minutes in after a frenetic opening exchange in which the Dragons defence managed to hold firm against several waves of Titans attack.
Titans skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui was held up over the line 25 minutes thanks to a superb Jacob Liddle effort before the Dragons forced an error to retain possession.
A successful Dragons captain’s challenge negated an offside penalty that would have put the Titans back on the attack a half-hour in.
Their first points came just shy of halftime through Alofiana Khan-Pereira who was the beneficiary of a Tom Weaver grubber after a prolonged period of pressure.
Tanah Boyd’s conversion was waved away as the visitors took a two-point edge into the sheds.
A Moses Suli in-goal take and quick tap turned defence into attack early in the second half for the Dragons only for an error to put an end to the raid.
Flanagan made his Dragons debut a memorable one moments later picking out a gap next to the sticks and dummying his way through to dive over for the side’s second try with Lomax adding the extras to extend the advantage to eight.
The visitors threatened again soon after off the back of a set restart only for Lomax’s aerial effort to be denied.
Instead, it was Sloan finding his way onto the scoresheet again courtesy of a brilliant Liddle break and textbook draw-and-pass from inside his own half to make it 18-4.
A heads-up one-on-one strip courtesy of Liddle earnt the Dragons strong field position once more with a second successful Dragons captain’s challenge extending the attacking raid by an extra set.
The Dragons were rewarded for their sustained pressure with Ben Hunt putting boot to ball in surgical fashion down the short side to lay a four-pointer on for Lomax and make it 22-4.
A Titans error put the Red V straight back onto the attack and Sloan took full advantage shooting through a gap off the hip of Hunt to seal his triple.
Despite taking a handy buffer into the final stages, the Dragons defence held strong with an Eisenhuth cover effort off a ricocheting kick epitomising the night-long resolve.
