St George Illawarra Dragons halfback Ben Hunt

After a rocky start to the season, the St George Illawarra dragons well and truly quietened their haters after a brutal beating of the Canterbury Bulldogs in front of 13,409 fans at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.

The Dragons were first on the board with Euan Aitken steam rolling over his defenders off a bullet pass from Ben Hunt.

Tim Lafai proved that he has been practicing his kicks on the training paddock converting the try and a penalty goal 5 minutes later.

With 10 minutes to go in the half, Lafai found himself attempting to convert his own try, a beauty which started with a one on one strip.

Hunt, who had his best game of 2019, jumped on an attacking opportunity stripping the ball one-on-one and then breaking down the field putting his team in excellent attacking position.

They carried the ball to the left and Corey Norman put Lafai over through a cut out pass, not before he broke through some defenders first, though.

Just 5 minutes later and with the game in full control, the Dragons extended their lead even more this time through Mikaele Ravalawa.

Once again, Ben Hunt was there to provide the assist.

The Dogs went up the tunnel at half time without any points to their name.

However, Dragons fans weren’t entirely comfortable with the 18 point lead knowing how unpredictable both teams can be.

The first half of the second half proved to be much more of a tug-o-war which saw both teams coming up with some costly errors and incapable of capitalising on prime opportunities.

Ben Hunt thought he had himself a try after having a part in every other try, however he was denied because Ravalawa took his defender out of play.

Just a few minutes later however, Jordan Pereira got himself his 4th try this season this time off a beautiful Matt Dufty play.

The Dragons spine, which was under so much scrutiny just a few weeks earlier, today proved their power.

After being denied one earlier, Ben Hunt got himself his 4 points, jumping on a poor offload decision from Kerrod Holland and extending the lead to 28.

Rhyse Martin looked to have got his team their first points but the Dragons defense was far too strong holding him up.

The Bulldogs were then unable to convert the goal line opportunity turning the ball over.

The Dragons, however, did capitalise on their opportunity through the help of no one else but Ben Hunt.

Norman put up a ginormous bomb which Jayden Okunbor was unable to handle, handing it over to Hunt who passed it off to Zac Lomax, fresh on the field and scoring his first NRL try.

In what could be called a consolation try, Reimis Smith got the Bulldogs their first points of the night turning a repeat set into points and giving their fans something to celebrate at least.

Despite letting their opponent on the board, the Dragons weren’t done.

Euan Aitken was denied his double but after the ball was turned around once again, Ben Hunt got his in what is being crowned as a potential try of the year so far.

After being under pressure to start the year, Hunt is enjoying his footy and that improves his overall game.

“Benny is really enjoying his footy,” Dragons coach Paul McGregor said.

“When someone with that much talent is enjoying his footy, it’s exciting to watch. He’s had a couple of good games this year but that was his best.”

NRL News Man of the Match:

3. Ben Hunt

2. James Graham

1. Corey Norman

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.