St George Illawarra seeking immediate rebound after first-up loss

The Dragons suffered a disappointing 18-4 loss to the Roosters on Saturday, Sydney outplaying their opponents in hot conditions in Canberra.

The defeat means Daniel Lacey's side will likely need to win their next two games to qualify for the grand final.

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It's a position St George Illawarra have found themselves in before, the team recovering from a round one loss a year ago to finish in the top two.

The Dragons were considered by many as the favourites to take out the competition, the club welcoming a number of new recruits this season.

One was centre Isabelle Kelly and she remains confident the side boasts the talent required to produce an immediate rebound.

"We can turn this around," Kelly said. "Last year the girls lost the first game and then bounced back from that.

"We'll be focusing on what we did wrong and being better. Everyone will be taking the little things and learning how to be better.

"We're still fairly upbeat, we need to be with this short competition, we can't dwell on it for too long. We'll get back to training, work on some things and make sure we execute next game."

Lacey was disappointed with Saturday's performance, the coach lamenting the number of errors and ill discipline from his side.

It came on the back of an extremely short preparation, St George Illawarra only finalising their squad nine days before their opening clash.

With so many new faces, Lacey is not panicking. Instead, the experienced coach is hoping to use the lessons learnt a year ago.

"Ideally you want to win every game, but there's four good teams," Lacey said.

"Even last year, having the injuries and suspension that we had, we just changed the team a little bit. We went to New Zealand, it didn't go to plan in the first half, in the second half it all did.

"That's how quickly it can change, but we can't last another game until we show what we can do."

St George Illawarra had plenty of opportunities to break through on Saturday, however their attack lacked spark and looked clunky at times.

The Roosters were also outstanding in defence, the underdogs defending valiantly to hold out their opponents.

Kelly conceded her team's star-studded backline was below their best, but she said it will only take some small tweaks to reach their potential next Saturday.

"We just need to focus on our game plan, not go outside of that," Kelly said.

"Focus on the one percenters, no drop ball, no penalties, the Roosters scored on the back of them. It's just the little things, we all know what to do."