St George Illawarra went from heroes in the opening round to being nothing more than cheap chum for the Dolphins last week as Shane Flanagan was left aghast at the difference in his side’s best and worst.
In their 46-24 loss to the Cowboys, this was showcased within 40 minutes of footy as the Dragons blew a healthy lead by conceding 42 straight points to lose back-to-back games.
How St George Illawarra capitulated against North Queensland to concede 42 unanswered points
Against the Titans, the Dragons were full of running and purpose as their variations in attack kept Des Hasler’s chargers on the back foot, only for this to disappear into the night air at Kayo Stadium last week.
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The old saying goes that a week is a long time in the NRL, and Flanagan would have been happy to see his side putting this into practice as the home side came out on fire in the opening stanza.
Their powerful running and free-flowing attack stunning Todd Payten’s men as they raced into an 18-4 lead.
Ben Hunt already had two try assists inside the opening 20 minutes and should have had a third when he threaded a kick through to Raymond Faitala-Mariner.
But the new recruit dropped his lollies in the in-goal and the Cowboys went up the other end and immediately punished the mistake with their second four-pointer of the match to set off a brutal chain of events.
Remarkably, the Cowboys then scored two more to take a 22-18 lead into the break with Kyle Feldt’s acrobatic effort to tap back to Scott Drinkwater the pick of the bunch.
History then repeated itself in the second stanza, with the Dragons unable to covert a linebreak into points before Drinkwater kicked the first 40/20 of his career and Kulikefu Finefeuiaki barged over from the resulting set.
When Zac Lomax dropped a kick over the line and the Cowboys marched up the field, everyone knew what was to come with Drinkwater’s inside ball sending Val Holmes through as he offloaded to Tom Dearden.
"It happened four times I think," Flanagan said post-match.
"We'd have an opportunity to score...and then they'd go down the other end and score.
"If something goes wrong for us, we then just let them march up the field and score points."
Two more tries in three minutes compounded St George’s misery with their blistering opening salvo nothing more than a distant memory.
Lomax, who scored one of his side’s first three tries of the match, grabbed his second late on to finally stop the one-way traffic as he pounced upon a Hunt grubber.
It was a cruel reminder of what could have been for the Red V.
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The Cowboys got out of dodge last week against the Knights when Chad Townsend kicked them in front during golden point to snatch the lead for the first and only time in the match.
They completed just 37 of 52 sets in Townsville against Adam O’Brien’s men but relocated their ability to hold onto possession against the Dragons as they cruised to a commanding victory.
Their pack monstered St George Illawarra's with Blake Lawrie the only forward to register over 100 running metres in the engine room.
"We lacked a little bit of leg speed through the middle," Flanagan noted.
"With Frankie Molo, Jacob Liddle, Hame Sele and Jaydn Su'A out - that's four good forwards there that we lacked and where the Cowboys blew our ruck apart."
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"There was a lot of guys, I guess you could say, got called out and got a few truths they didn't want to hear and things like that," Ben Hunt said of his coach ahead of the Round 3 meeting at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
"He was obviously pretty cranky, we didn't get a massive spray or anything like that, it was more just a disappointed dad speech, we knew we were wrong and stuffed up."
Yet these “honest review sessions” arguably yielded just 20 minutes of quality performance with Flanagan left bemused as the Dragons have now conceded 84 points in their past two matches.
"It all went wrong on the Faitala-Mariner no try there," Flanagan said.
"I thought there was some really good patches of football, and we looked sharp but on the other side of things, defensively, we got blown away in the rucks.
"There were some positive signs at different stages, but we need to show more resilience.
"I gave them an opportunity for right of reply today. Did they do it? For 40 minutes, I'd say they did but in the second 40 they didn't. So, it's something we've got to look at as a club."
