St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor has given star halves Benji Marshall and Gareth Widdop licence to run against Manly on Monday after the pair gave the Dragons much-maligned attack a jump-start against Newcastle last week.
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Widdop and Marshall both logged more than 100 metres with ball in hand, running for a combined 216 metres from 27 carries while Marshall scored a try and had two try-assists in a stunning return to form.
It was the first sign that the 31-year-old, off-contract at season’s end, has finally overcome the ongoing hamstring complaint that dogged the first half of his season and put contract talks with the club on hold.
Widdop also had a try assist and broke seven tackles as part of a concerted effort to take on the Knights defensive line and McGregor said he will urge the pair to keep backing themselves against a struggling Manly outfit on Monday.
“There’s a difference between going through your job on game day or actually going to the game on game day,” McGregor said.
“I think the last couple of weeks they’ve really gone at the game and really attacked the game which makes people around them more exciting because it makes the defence vulnerable.
“They’re both great running players. Gareth’s got a beautiful running game and Benji’s brought his back the last couple of weeks and it’s nice to see because he built his career on running.
“Their ability to take the line on really frees up the people around them and I’ve always encouraged them to do that. They’re really doing that with purpose at the moment.”
The Dragons have now managed 50 points in their past two games but still have a -95 differential that could prove telling come the end of the season. After letting a chance to truly put the last-placed Knights to the sword, McGregor said it’s important his side string together some 80-minute performances.
“In the second half we probably got a bit comfortable with our lead so it’s about us playing 80 minutes this week and continuing to improve on last weeks game.
“Around that 60-minute mark we’d done enough to win the game and we need to really put the foot on the throat and finish off that last 20 minutes well. It’s something we’re looking to do this week
“This time of year you want consistent footy for 80 minutes, you don’t want to play for parts of it. We’re still looking to do that.
“We’re coming up against a side that hasn’t won a game for a while.
“They’ll be committed and they’re back at home so we know the challenge there and that’s challenge is mainly about our purpose of playing 80 minutes of good footy.”
