If you’ve had a Dragons fan just return home this weekend from a long holiday in some place where they don’t have the internet and they ask, ‘‘How’s our season been?’’, here’s what you do.
You sit them down and show them Friday night’s match against the Tigers. That match was the Dragons season to date in an 80-minute nutshell.
Like the first half of our season, the first half of the match we were in control. Then, in the second 40 everything went pear-shaped - just like the back end of 2011.
I’m not sure what went wrong. I mean, it’s the finals, aren’t teams supposed to lift for those? Aren’t they supposed to care what happens? It was a bit of a worrying sign that I only saw one player running out to try and pressure Benji Marshall on that field goal late in the game (though it was hardly a surprise to see that that one player was Dean Young, one of the only guys in the team who never, ever gives up).
It seemed more than just a turnaround in possession. In the second half the Tigers were just stronger and more intent on giving it to a Dragons side that looked overwhelmed and unsure how to handle the onslaught.
We do have a second chance, after wins to Brisbane and Manly, but we’ll have to improve things very bloody quickly indeed to have any chance of knocking over the Broncos north of the border. Especially given the Darren Lockyer 2011 Farewell Tour.
By the way, that first half try to Benji - that wasn’t a try. Refs’ boss Bill Harrigan says it was a drop-kick. In the fourth minutes? Who goes for a drop-kick in general play in the fourth minute. What he did was muff the kick - which is the same as dropping the ball.
It doesn’t matter that his foot eventually touched the ball - he lost control. If a forward spills the ball but somehow gets a boot to it as it hits the ground, what do the refs rule? A knock-on - because that’s what it is.
And that’s what Benji’s was.
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