Despite missing several of their stars either due to injury, or the fact that they did not play due to rep duties on Friday night, teams will be shaking in their boots, after seeing virtually no ill-effects, in regards to missing those players.
The main message that coach Wayne Bennett tells all the players, every week, is that, it does not matter who wears the jersey at any given week, but whether or not the players turn up for each other every week.
“It’s great stuff and it’s what you’ve got to build your club on, if you’re going to have players playing in the rep program.
“I think it’s what these boys have created. It’s not so much the individual. The individual might go into a different system and not do what they do for us. Everybody feels an important part of the club. They’ve got a job to do, they know what it is and they go out and do it for us.”
The key moment of the game was when the Dragons defended 6 consecutive sets in their own-half, before frustration set in for the Cowboys, as Ben Hornby took an intercept, that led to a Josh Morris try.
Whilst they still made their fair share of errors, it was their resolve, and their sturdy defence, that takes them back to the utilization of a simple philosophy.
“You just don’t want to let that person down that’s made the mistake, that’s the main thing,” said Hornby.
Whilst he knows that the try to Morris was the deciding factor in the game, Cowboys Neil Henry is still unsure, as to whether or not all of the Dragons players were onside.
“Morris goes away for that intercept try and that deflated us a bit and that was hard to take,” said Henry.
“I thought he (Thompson) was hurried up for his pass by a man who was offside but, oh well, they didn’t go to the video ref anyway.”
Dally M Points
3 Ben Hornby
2 Jonathon Thurston
1 Kyle Stanley