Su'A, Tuipulotu fire Dragons to crucial Suncorp victory

Su’A brushed off his Origin demotion in fine style, tearing through more than 150 metres with eight tackle busts and a try while Tuipulotu was fearsome with ball in hand, racking up 10 busts and north of 160 metres to go with his three tries.

Kyle Flanagan stepped up to the senior playmaker role with Ben Hunt in Origin, setting up two tries and kicking five goals.

The Dragons had the game well in hand after 50 minutes before a late Broncos fightback sent scares through the Red V camp but their comeback ultimately fell short. 

The Dragons were dealt a blow pre kick-off with Raymond Faitala-Mariner succumbing to a back complaint in the warm up, with Ben Murdoch-Masila returning top the 17 after initially being named 18th man to accommodate the return of Jack Bird on the bench.

It didn’t stop the Dragons from starting fast, with a wonderful tip-on from Moses Suli and powerful charge from Christian Tuipulotu earning the Red V first points after eight minutes.

Some ill-discipline from the visitors piggy-backed the Broncos into the attacking zone with Billy Walters burrowing over to put the home side up 6-4 after a quarter-hour.

A Jesse Marschke line break drew a sin-bin penalty from Kotoni Staggs, who interfered with the ruck and was sent for 10 with Kyle Flanagan levelling up from the infringement.

There was a no-try to Mikaele Ravalawa, adjudged to have failed in his grounding in an attempt from dummy half, before Suli finally took advantage of the 12-man defensive line by running through Staggs’ channel for the team’s second try and a 10-6 lead approaching the half-hour mark.

Staggs’ first touch after returning was an error in the Broncos’ end which allowed the Dragons to camp on the try-line once again, with Tuipulotu producing another powerful run into the in-goal for his second.

The Broncos conceded a stripping penalty from the kick-off, burning their captain’s challenge in the process, with the set finishing with a Marschke bomb that was fumbled by Tristan Sailor and cleaned up by Su’A for the side’s fourth try.

The 22-6 lead was the Dragons’ best at half time this year and the fun continued soon after the resumption with Tuipulotu’s third try, this time going over almost untouched after some nice lead-up work.

The Dragons conceded back-to-back penalties midway through the second stanza to allow Ezra Mam the chance to dive over, bringing it back to 28-12.

The Dragons were penalised and lost their captain’s challenge after taking Jordan Riki into touch, despite the tackle appearing to maintain momentum; a try-saving tackle from Ravalawa saved the Dragons from further damage as a result.

A long-range try finished off by Kotoni Staggs got the Broncos back within 12 points with 15 minutes to play.

Marschke made the long chase on Staggs into the corner and was substituted afterwards with Jack Bird injected for his first taste of NRL since round 12.

A penalty goal put the Dragons back beyond two converted tries with less than 10 minutes to play.

The Broncos reclaimed the short kick-off and soon after scored through Blake Mozer. Staggs scored his second with two minutes to go but the conversion was missed and the Broncos were unable to find another try in the dying stages.