FEW spines in the NRL came into the season under more pressure than the Dragons' but coach Anthony Griffin looks to have them humming along after a return to form from Corey Norman steered the Dragons to a 38-12 win over the Sea Eagles on Friday.
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Matt Dufty and Zac Lomax both had doubles, while Norman laid on two tries and played a major hand in another in his best performance for the club in more than a season. It was timely for the 30-year-old, who missed round one after being stood down for an off-field incident and comes into 2021 off-contract for the first time in his career.
Dufty is also without a deal beyond this season and continued a love affair with WIN Stadium, with his two tries taking his tally to 13 tries in 14 outings in Wollongong. It wasn't error-free but showed why he won't be short of options on the open market should it come to it later in the season.
With Ben Hunt producing a similar throwback to his best last week, and Andrew McCullough playing another steady hand at dummy-half, Griffin's faith in the quartet looks well placed early on.
"Ben had to play most of the second half with that [calf] cork but Corey was brilliant," Griffin said.
"He's a really good player, obviously he hasn't been happy with what he's been doing the last period of his career and he needs to play well. At the club we've got guys like him and Ben Hunt that need to play well.
"I thought McCullough was good, Dufty was good, our spine was really patient and direct. They're all very talented and the nine, seven and six have got a lot of games under their belt. We need them to be doing that.
"I'm really happy for them, they're starting to click, they controlled the game really well tonight. We've still got a lot of work to do on our execution, but I thought the tempo we played at with the ball and the decisions we made [were good].
"We were really clean with the ball and we had to be because they were throwing a lot at us. We played most of the night without a lot of field position but the spine kept us on course.
"We were patient, we were direct and our kicking game was good and that helped us get through the tough minutes in the middle of the second half where they were trying to get themselves back in the game."
It leaves the Dragons heading to Newcastle next weekend looking to make it three straight wins for the first time since round five 2019.
The visitors provided little resistance, making a staggering 13 errors and never really threatening to reel the Dragons in after falling off the pace early. It continued a horror run for the Eagles in Wollongong - with their last win at the venue coming way back in 2003 - and will only up the pressure on coach Des Hasler and skipper Daly Cherry Evans who came into the match feeling the blowtorch.
Lomax scored first, plucking a well-placed kick from Norman out of the air for the opening four-pointer. He converted for a 6-0 lead after nine minutes. The Dragons bombed what looked certain to be their second try when Norman split the Eagles defence from deep in his own territory only for Dufty to spill the ball with a clear path to the line.
Cherry-Evans crossed moments later after Daniel Alvaro fumbled his first touch, but was denied his side's first try after the bunker found a knock on from Sean Keppie in the lead-up.
Dufty made no mistake with his next opportunity, trailing on a break from Tariq Sims to score the Dragons second under the posts and extend the lead to 12 11 minutes before the break. Cody Ramsey got across four minutes later off a neat off-load from Jack Bird for his third try in just two appearances in Wollongong. Lomax maintained his perfect effort off the tee for an 18-point cushion.
An error in the next set opened the door for Reuben Garrick to hit back for the Eagles after Dufty failed to clear a Keiran Foran grubber from his own in-goal. The Gerringong product converted his own try to cut the margin back to 12 two minutes before halftime.
The errors continued to fly thick and fast through the second stanza, with Lomax extending the lead beyond two converted tries with a 56th minute penalty goal. The pace quickened from there, with Dufty grabbing his second off a beautiful inside ball from Norman to put the result beyond doubt at 26-6 with 12 minutes to go.
Lomax followed up, winning the race to a Hunt grubber for his second try with 11 minutes left for a personal tally of 20 points. The Eagles finally hit back through Cherry Evans with five minutes to go but it was little consolation, with Brayden Wiliame grabbing a try from the bench barely minutes after being injected into the game, Lomax converting to push his mark to 22.