Sims binned twice as Dragons stunned by depleted Broncos

It was a lesson St George Illawarra learned the hard way in a 32-18 defeat to a decimated Brisbane outfit at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, with the famed 'baby Broncos' claiming another big scalp.

With the hosts missing 11 top-liners - including the likes of Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan, Selwyn Cobbo, Kurt Capewell, Corey Oates, Tom Flegler - the Dragons conceded four tries either side of halftime to squander a golden opportunity against an undermanned top-four contender.

The Broncos may have been without 11 players due to injury and Origin commitments, but they did manage to keep 13 on the park for the duration of the 80 minutes.

The Dragons couldn't say the same, with Tariq Sims sin-binned twice in the first half, the first time just three minutes into the game for a late shot on Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds.

Stand-in Dragons skipper Andrew McCullough could well have joined him for another late shot on Reynolds just minutes later, while Sims was perhaps fortunate not to get dispatched for the remainder of the game when he hit Broncos prop Rhys Kennedy flush to the face with an errant shoulder 14 minutes before the break.

It earned the former Blues enforcer his second stint in the sin-bin, the Broncos taking advantage of both periods against 12 men with tries to Delouise Hoeter and Tesi Niu immediately following both calls.

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It cost the Dragons on the scoreboard and Sims may yet pay a larger price, with both challenges sure to draw the attention of the match-review panel.

Reynolds has been carrying a rib complaint, but Dragons coach Anthony Griffin denied there was any concerted effort to target the Broncos skipper.

"We didn't have a tactic to tackle him late or get someone in the sin-bin," Griffin said.

"Like any half you play against, you want to take their time away, but we're certainly not out there trying to foul him or attack him in any way.

"Unfortunately we gave away two or three penalties and copped 20 minutes in the sin-bin for it. I thought we did a reasonable job in the first half to play a man down for 20 minutes and [only] come in four [points] down.

"Then we had our opportunity early in the second half with the ball to build some pressure with the ball and field position we had, but we threw it away.

"Once they scored first they were going to be hard to reel in. Whenever Brisbane are in this position in the history of their club, the baby Bronco weekend, they always play out of their skin. To their credit they did that."

The 12-on-13 battle was intriguing enough in the first half, but it had nothing on the one-one-showdown between Moses Suli and Kotoni Staggs, the pair both grabbing first-half tries in a battle to savour.

The latter claimed ultimate bragging rights with two tries, his first giving his side a valuable halftime lead and the second effectively putting the match to bed midway through the second half.

Having got away with the benefit of some generous calls against the Raiders last weekend, Sunday's loss continued a trend of second-half fades that has seen the Dragons post just six second-half points in their last three games.

In their first outing as a halves pairing at NRL level, Jayden Sullivan and Talatau Amone looked dangerous with ball in hand but the Dragons most tellingly missed skipper Ben Hunt at the end of sets that lacked polish in his absence.

The young duo gave up three straight seven-tackle sets to start the second half and struggled to find the right option with the boot as their side pressed hard to get back into the match.

"We got away with it in the first half but in the second half we had two or three sets of good-ball in the first five or 10 minutes and gave it away on the last," Griffin said.

"We just didn't build any pressure off the back of our sets and they picked us off pretty well. They were just harder at the ball than us, both sides of the ball, which is disappointing.

"We had periods where we started to get the game to where we wanted it in the first half but early in the second half we gave away our field position too easily and we just weren't good enough defensively.

"We had 40 per cent of the ball in the first half so it was a really good effort, but we had our opportunity to balance the game up early in the second half and then we had plenty of opportunity in the last 15 minutes. We just weren't good enough with the ball."

It extends the Dragons streak of losses in the absence of their skipper to eight straight games and sees Manly leapfrog them into the top eight by virtue of the bye.

Having also enjoyed a timely bye, the Roosters move within two points of the Dragons ahead of their meeting on the Central Coast next week, with Griffin sure to be sweating on Hunt's fitness coming out of Origin III.

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With a game against the Sea Eagles to follow a week later, the Dragons' top eight hopes face an acid test over the coming fortnight.

The game got off to a dramatic start, with referee Grant Atkins showing no hesitation in sending Sims to the bin for a shot on Reynolds after passing.

It was a sign of things to come for Reynolds as the Dragons applied relentless pressure to the Broncos skipper who continues to carry niggling rib complaints.

It cost the visitors some early penalties, and the opening try to Delouise Hoeter, but had the desired effect as Reynolds coughed up two simple errors that twice put the Dragons on the attack.

He also missed his first conversion attempt of Hoeter's try, with the Dragons taking advantage through Cody Ramsey 16 minutes in after Sullivan and Amone combined to create the space.

Niu capitalised on Sims' second spell from close range in the 25^th minute but the Dragons again hit straight back when Suli carried several defenders across from close range for his side's second try and a 12-10 lead eight minutes before the break.

It was an impressive effort, though he was trumped at the other end just four minutes later when left flat on his heels by Staggs for the Broncos third try and a 16-12 lead.

Hoerter had his second try nine minutes after the resumption after a neat shift, but it was Ezra Mam's 55^th minute try that truly set the win in motion.

The 19-year-old finished off a brilliant try on the back of offloads from Kobe Hetherington and Niu, the final sprint to the line also costing the Dragons Mikaele Ravalawa who blew out his hamstring in pursuit.

The Broncos then put the Dragons to the sword, with Reynolds putting Jordan Pereira away down the touch-line, the former Dragon kicking ahead for Staggs to grab his second try and push the margin beyond three converted tries.

The visitors finally broke their second-half duck nine minutes from fulltime with Ramsey's second try, but it came too late to make the Broncos sweat.

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