St George Illawarra coach Anthony Griffins has praised the breakout performance of Tyrell Sloan in inspiring the Dragons to a first-up win over the Gold Coast Titans.
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But Griffin and captain Ben Hunt both rejected suggestions the Dragons 'had something extra to prove' in their 32-18 victory over the Titans at Kogarah on Sunday.
"Except for one day in Mudgee we had a really good off-season, we were really confident on where we were going as a group," the coach said.
"You could tell yesterday at training the boys were really looking forward to getting their season started.
"You always want to win but it was important for us to have a really solid performance.
"I thought we did that for 50 minutes, we can build off that now. We've got some work to do defensively. I thought our system for most of the night was pretty good but there is a couple of things that we need to work on.
"I thought 18 points was too many, but it was round one and we got a really good win."
Hunt also rubbished suggestions of a turbulent off-season.
"There has been belief all pre-season to be honest," he said.
"Like Hook touched on, we had a bad day in Mudgee but there has just been a really great feel around the group. All pre-season we've had that belief and now I think we've got a bit of confidence.
"Boys are knowing their roles, so they can start getting more confident in themselves.
"We've still got a lot of work to do but the belief is certainly there and starting to grow."
The Dragons actually trailled 12-2 midway through the first half against the Titans before Sloan sparked a four-try blitz in 14 minutes either side of halftime en route to a 32-18 win.
"I thought he was excellent and that is exactly what we need him to do," Griffin said.
The livewire No. 1 engineered his side's first try from dummy-half to put Jacob Liddle over nine minutes before the break.
It proved to be the major momentum swing that saw Hunt and Mikaele Ravalawa cross in quick succession, the latter in the shadows of halftime that turned a 12-2 deficit into 16-12 halftime lead.
Sloan then crossed for a try of his own five minutes after the resumption.
"I thought it was a great decision by him to put his hand up and want to do that and I thought his whole game was really solid all night," Griffin said.
The coach also praised the performance of Thirroul junior Toby Couchman in his first game for the Dragons.
"I thought he was outstanding," Griffin said.
"I thought those bench forwards when they got on changed the momentum of the game for us and that was really important.
"I thought Toby was outstanding and that's obviously what we see in him and that's why we put him on. He has great speed around the ruck defensively and he is fearless with his carry.
"I was really happy for him and the team. Whenever you debut a young junior, particularly a local junior that has come through your system it's nice of them to feel the jubilation of that first win. I thought he made a really good contribution."
Griffin hinted injured star Jack de Belin could return to action against the Brisbane Broncos on Saturday but was coy on when Talatau Amone would be back in the starting line-up.
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