Eric
Staff
St George Illawarra Dragons defeat NZ Warriors, Mikaele Ravalawa scores hat-trick
Two exciting teenagers and a rampaging winger helped inspire the Dragons to victory and show they could be the surprise packets of the season.
Tyrell Sloan put an emphatic stamp on the Dragons fullback position and a rampaging Mikaele Ravalawa scored a bulldozing hat-trick to inspire a 28-16 win over the Warriors and bury the embers of BBQ-gate.The Dragons lost their last eight games of the 2021 season following BBQ-gate, but this is a new-look team with 19 year-olds Sloan and five-eighth Talatau Amone, providing the team enthusiasm and class. Dragons back-rower Jack Bird said Sloan was “killing it” at fullback and predicted a big future ahead. “He is a skinny, long thing who runs with intent and has all the skills, but this is just the start for him,” Bird said. “Sloany is just 19 and has a decade in first grade ahead of him. He just has to stay humble and keep his head on and he is destined for big things.”
Sloan set up two tries inside the first 14 minutes at Sunshine Coast Stadium with silky balls for Ravalawa and Bird to score but the Dragons lost their way as Warriors forwards Josh Curran and Addin Fonua-Blake took it upon themselves to inspire a comeback in halfback Shaun Johnson’s first game on his return to the club.
The Dragons fell in a hole and trailed 16-14, after leading 12-0, and there were some disjointed sets as six players — Aaron Woods, Jaydn Su’A, Moses Mbye, Moses Suli, Frank Molo and Jack Gosiewski — all made their club debuts. Mbye and Su’A both played key hands in getting the Dragons back to the lead and gave coach Anthony Griffin a winning start to the year and vindication for the significant roster changes he has made in the past 12 months.
The Dragons, tipped in some quarters as wooden spooners, looked anything but. “I was just happy with the way we knuckled down when we got behind,” Griffin said. “Last year is last year. It is a different group and it feels different. Obviously they haven’t played a lot of footy together and it is going to take us a while to get into a real groove.”
SILKY SLOAN
Sloan scored six tries in his five games last year but he’s more than a finisher. His creative powers were the highlight against the Warriors. The best players have both time and timing and he showed both with his early try assists and made the difficult look ridiculously easy, particularly with a sleight of hand inside ball for Bird to score. The Dragons have the 19-year-old on their books until the end of 2024 and it is scary to think how good he will be by then.RAVALAWA RAMPAGE
The bullocking Fijian gave opposite number Marcelo Montoya nightmares and had no right to score two of his tries which involved trampling over Warriors with contempt. It was the kind of individual effort that the Dragons craved to start the season and was also a sign of a tough mindset that the entire side displayed to fight back when the Warriors appeared to be on top.I just watched a reply. Rava gets 3, Sloan 2 and I can't pick a 1. Lawrie or JDB because have to pick a forward. Mbye was good when he came on. I'm interested in what
jodragon40 has to say as to why were were so good in the first 20 min and then crap for the next 40 before coming good again. The live chat regarding Ben Hunt was correct. All in all, it was a pretty poor game from him.It's a little annoying having Corey Parker talk about rocks and diamonds. Unless he is considering mis-timed tackles around the waste to be "rocks". He hasn't watched St George play but just because of Rava's skin color or his Fijian heritage, Corey Parker thinks he must be rocks. He hasn't always been "diamonds" but hasn't been rocks in a long time.
