![St George Illawarra forward Jaydn Sua tackled during the Dragons 26-6 win over the Dolphins at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on Sunday,June 30, 2024. Picture by Jason McCawley/Getty Images St George Illawarra forward Jaydn Sua tackled during the Dragons 26-6 win over the Dolphins at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on Sunday,June 30, 2024. Picture by Jason McCawley/Getty Images](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/kZL4qV6yTxfrWZJxKQxjSN/26ad92db-2883-44bc-b7ad-0402944b6bea.jpg/r0_64_3215_1879_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A dominant second half by St George Illawarra catapulted the Dragons to a vital 26-6 win over the Dolphins at Kogarah on Sunday.
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It was an important win for the Dragons, who now have 20 competition points, the same as the Dolphins, who were in sixth spot heading into the clash at Netsrata Jubilee Stadium.
The win also came on the day Dragons coach Shane Flanagan celebrated his 200th as an NRL coach.
"it's nice to get 200 but as a playing group, there was a bit of conversation, that's about all we just get on with it. It was a really important game for us," Flanagan said.
"To get two competition points and my 200th game, my impact had very little to do once the whistle gets blown.
"It was a really good second half by us to be honest, 26 points against the breeze, they scored none. It was pleasing.
"But in the first half there was some good footy played by both sides. It was a real arm wrestle.
"That's the type of side the Dolphins are.
"So we knew that and probably the work we put into it and Ben [Hunt] was just saying on the way up the first eight minutes, you know, it was just an arm wrestle, no stoppages, no penalties.
"That was probably one of the longest arm wrestles we've had for a long period of time and the Dolphins like that, and we stuck with them, which was good to see."
A crowd of 8052 was in attendance, for the cold winter's day fixture which really only kicked into gear in the second half.
For most of the first half the score resembled more of a round ball fixture, with neither team troubling the scorers.
The Dragons only hit the front through a Kyle Flanagan penalty goal in the 34th minute but it was the Dolphins who would go to the sheds 6-2 in front after winger Tesi Niu scored a minute before the break, with Jamayne Isaako slotting over the conversion.
While there was little tryline action before this, St George Illawarra almost crossed for a try in the 28th minute but Mathew Feagai dropped the ball as he tried to dive over and score in the corner.
To make matters worse the winger, playing on the side where Zac Lomax usually plays, injured his shoulder while trying to score.
The injury forced Feagai off the field and resulted in Jaydn Su'A shifting to the centres so Max Feagai could shift to the right wing.
The visitors also had their injury concerns with hooker Jeremy Marshall-King forced off midway through the first-half with a foot injury.
The Dragons hit back early in the second half with Raymond Faitala-Mariner barging over after a nice short pass from Ben Hunt to level proceedings.
The Red V jumped to a 10-6 lead in the 53rd minute after Christian Tuipulotu finished off a clever play off a scrum.
Kyle Flanagan scooped the ball from the scrum and ran the short side before passing to Tyrell Sloan, who then dished off to his winger Tuipulotu, who held off two defenders to cross out wide.
Less than five minutes later the Dragons were in again through Sloan. Flanagan kicked the conversion to take St George Illawarra to a 16-6 lead.
Soon after the Dragons were in again, with Jack De Belin crashing over after accepting a clever pass from fellow front-rower Francis Molo.
The Dragons put the game to bed a minute later when Jacob Liddle barged over and Flanagan converted the try to extend the home side's advantage to 20 points.
Any chance Wayne Bennett's Dolphins had of making a comeback were ended in the 71st minute when Mosese Suli made a try-saving tackle on Herbie Farnsworth,
This pleased his coach Flanagan immensely.
"You can look at the scoreboard and not react and that's the sort of team we want to be that no matter what the scoreboard says that we scramble and try and save tries and that's a good example. I'll be showing that [video] during the week."
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett said his team weren't helped by the amount of mistakes they made and the 9-3 penalty count against the visitors.