St George Illawarra Dragons have jumped into the top eight, at least for one day, after hammering Wests Tigers 56-14 at WIN Stadium on Friday night
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The Dragons for the second week on the trot had to fight back from a 10-point deficit to secure their seventh win of the season,
And like St George Illawarra did against Penrith in their last outing, they produced a brilliant second half, scoring seven unanswered tries to run away with the win and hand the Tigers their biggest loss in the Benji Marshall era.
It also saw the Dragons leapfrog Manly into eighth spot on the ladder with 16 competition points.
The only sore point to the night for the Dragons was Zac Lomax being placed on report for dangerous contact.
Lomax though had another great game, finishing with 32 points courtesy of scoring three tries and kicking 10 goals from as many attempts.
His second last conversion from the sideline brought up the half-century much to the pleasure of the 9,969 supporters in Wollongong.
The 32 points he scored was a Dragons club record.
Speaking after the game Lomax said he hadn't had time to soak in his brilliant week which included breaking the Dragons' long-standing points record just two days after scoring a try on debut for NSW.
"I haven't had too much time to think about it to be honest, it sort of all happened in 48 hours..... but I've got all my family down here at the moment and all my friends.
"So I probably will get a little bit of time to reflect over the next couple of days, which will be good," Lomax said.
"I'm just super grateful and it's a good feeling to get a good win here too."
Lomax also spoke about being placed on report for his tackle on an airborne Solomon Alaimalo, saying he only had eyes for the ball.
"I sort of copped a bit of a knock and I don't really know what happened," he said.
"I was just sort of watching the ball. I had eyes for the ball and went to go up for the ball and then just sort of got hit.....,I don't know who hit me, I didn't even see the replay.
"I don't know who who hit me or what hit me, I was t watching the ball and going for the ball."
Mat Feagai also bagged a hatrick of tries while Luciano Leilua bagged two meat pies thanks largely to the good work of his skipper Ben Hunt, who also crossed for a try.
Kyle Flanagan also scored for the Dragons.
It was a great performance from Shane Flanagan's men, especially considering how poorly St George Illawarra started the game.
Two Wollongong-born players had the Dragons in a world of hurt early on with firstly Alex Lobb and then Jayden Sullivan scoring a try to see Wests Tigers lead 10-0 after just 12 minutes at WIN Stadium.
Illawarra junior Lobb was making his first start for the Tigers after playing 12 minutes in his debut for the club in their last-start loss to the North Queensland Cowboys.
The winger got off to a flyer in Wollongong, leaping high above his opposing winger Mathew Feagai to catch Sullivan's kick and score in the fourth minute.
Former Dragon Sullivan then scored a try of his own in the eighth minute after he was on the end of a break from exciting young fullback Jahream Bula.
But the Tigers 10-0 lead didn't last long with the home side leading 12-10 after 27 courtesy of converted tries to Kyle Flanagan and Zac Lomax, the latter coming after a great break right through the middle of the Tigers defence from Mosese Suli, who passed to Lomax, who did well to beat two defenders and cross for a four-pointer right under the posts.
Though it was Benji Marshall's Tigers who had the last laugh in the first half after Alex Seyfarth crashed over for try on the last play of the half to see the visitor go to the sheds in front 14-12.
Though the biggest talking point at the break was the decision to not award Kyle Flanagan a try just minutes before Seyfarth's try, despite replays showing he had grounded the ball on the line.
The bunker though said it was a double-movement and deemed it a no try.
Flanagan hits out at no try to his son Kyle:
Dragons coach Shane Flanagan could not believe his son was denied a try.
"That's a try. I know it's Kyle but that's a try without any doubt," he said.
"It's a 12-point turnaround really in a really important time. I just can't understand.
"The referee asked to see if he just put it on the tryline. They decided that he did. He thought in the motion it was all in the tackle, he wasn't held, he continued to mov.
"It's just a crazy decision, if we can't get them right in a score like today, when we are really under the pump, we got to get them right.
"The referee did a good job today but the bunker let him down."
The Dragons came out firing after halftime and Mat Feagai crossed for his first of a hat-trick of tries, there only looked like one winner.
The Dragons' Origin stars Hunt, Jaydn Su'A and Lomax started the game and all played integral parts in the big win.