He did just that to the tune of two crucial four-pointers as the Dragons ground out a tough 16-10 win over their arch-rivals that sees them head into round four in third spot on the ladder.

“I don’t think my game last week was up to standard and I just wanted to make sure I played a good game this week, did everything right for the team and it was good to come away with a couple of tries,” Aitken said.

“It was definitely a grind. Coming up against the premiers from last year it was going be hard. It’s a local derby and everyone always comes up big for this game and I’m glad we came up with the win.

Obviously last week we were very disappointed with our game against the Eels. We just didn’t prepare well enough for that game and it showed. This week there was a big onus on our defence to make sure we held out Cronulla and I think we did that.”