Dragons aim to build on unbeaten NRL start

While this season may mark the first time the joint venture has won four in a row to open a season, the Dragons have emerged as March and April specialists in recent years. 

Fast starts in three of the last four years have been followed by painful collapses, with last season’s round 26 heartbreak particularly noteworthy. 

Dragons players are aware of their side’s penchant for hot starts and meek finishes, but hooker Cameron McInnes said the players will keep their eyes focused on each upcoming game. 

“People say we’re March or April specialists, do they want us to lose some games at the start, would that be better?” McInnes said. “You want to win a game every week and I get that last year we simmered off towards the end and we started well and didn’t finish well, but it’s not like we planned to do that.

“I think if you ask every team are they planning to win their first four, I bet you they are, we’ve been able to do it. Now, the challenge is to keep it going. But with the mentality we have and taking each game at a time and not being complacent, then we’re not going to ever go out aiming to lose a game.”

Captain Gareth Widdop said the team has learnt from past mistakes and is confident the Dragons will continue on the right trajectory this weekend. 

“It’s a long season,” Widdop said. “There’s no doubt about that. I’d like to think we’ve done a lot of hard work in the preseason and learnt from last year, or the last few years, where we’ve started really well and fizzled off. 

“With the experience from last year that we went through and the players we’ve added to the team, we’re definitely confident we can keep the ball rolling”

This Friday the Dragons face a Rabbitohs side riding high after last weekend’s Good Friday victory over the Bulldogs and while South Sydney will miss the suspended Sam Burgess, McInnes said his team will have to play for the full 80 minutes to get the two points.

“For us, the focus this year is throwing the form guide out,” he said. “There were a certain few games over the weekend where teams won that you wouldn’t have thought would, you just can’t pick it. 

“If you want to go into a game thinking ‘we’ve won four, they’ve only won two’, then you’re going to be behind the eight-ball, they’ll come out firing and you’ll find yourself down. 

“In the NRL, if you’re going into a game thinking it’s going to be an easy game, then you’re kidding yourself and you’re probably not going to win.”