It wasn't straightforward, but the St. George Illawarra Dragons have won their opening match of the season largely thanks to a stellar performance from Mikaele Ravalawa.
The Fijian winger bagged a hat-trick as Anthony Griffin's side claimed a 28-16 victory against the New Zealand Warriors.
Dragons captain Ben Hunt spoke highly of Ravalawa after the game, with the 24-year-old becoming an increasingly important and reliable part of their team.
"He [Ravalwa] is a real handful ... you just want to get the ball in his hands," Hunt said.
"You get it out to Zac [Lomax] and it kind of looks like there's nothing on.
"He then puts [Ravalawa] away or [Ravalawa] just runs over someone. He [Ravalawa] was pretty good tonight."
The set-up. The TRY! 🤯#NRLWarriorsDragons pic.twitter.com/wGL9KGeaWY
— NRL (@NRL) March 12, 2022
Despite the important opening round victory, the Dragons had a few shaky moments.
They only committed nine errors compared to the Warriors' 13, but Tyrell Sloan's blunder in the first half cost his team a try.
He bizarrely jumped over a ball that was kicked into the in-goal, leaving it open for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to ground and claim a four-pointer.
The Dragons have a notably young squad this year, and Hunt knows they'll need time to improve.
"I'm excited [for the future], but we've also got a lot to work on," he said.
"There's a lot of new faces in the team and a lot of things have changed so we need to keep getting better.
"Tonight we switched off and we need to tidy that up and keep improving."
