Dragons too strong for Sea Eagles in WIN opener

The Sea Eagles made the most of an early opportunity with Tom Trbojevic darting out of acting half on the last and finding Tolutau Koula for the contest’s first points.

The Dragons hit back moments later with Jack Bird pouncing on an in-goal Tommy Talau error off a cross-field Ben Hunt punt and Zac Lomax slotting the conversion in front of a packed WIN Stadium hill to tie proceedings at six-apiece.

Koula was denied a second soon after with replays showing a mid-air Trbojevic knock-on in the lead-up to him crossing.

Mikaele Ravalawa was denied his first try of the season down the left flank with video officials ruling that the Fijian international went into touch prior to grounding the ball.

Moses Suli was also denied a four-pointer moments later with replays showing an obstruction in the lead-up to the centre’s damaging carry.

Hame Sele was inserted into the action 27 minutes in for his first taste of NRL action as a Dragon in 2,095 days.

A desperate Jaydn Su’A cover effort in the in-goal saved a try on the half-hour mark with the second rower managing to crawl into the field of play to cap it off.

Sloan added to his club-leading try tally soon after sweeping behind on a left-side shift to dive over in the northwestern corner.

Su’A followed Sloan’s effort minutes later steaming through off a Ben Hunt short ball to slam the ball down and extend the Dragons lead beyond a converted try heading into the break.

Ravalawa enjoyed a strong start to the second stanza coming up with a big kick defusal and 40-metre carry before making a big defensive stop to prevent opposite Jaxson Paulo from diving over in the right corner.

Paulo nearly managed to hit back soon after only for video officials to rule that the Sea Eagles winger had knocked the ball on in the grounding attempt.

Instead, the Dragons extended their lead through Sloan who was the beneficiary of a Hunt banana kick back on the inside after Tom Eisenhuth charged his way into the backfield off a Jack de Belin offload.

Lomax piloted through the extras to make it 20-6 the way of the hosts.

Haumole Olakau’atu charged over late for the visitors to cut the deficit back down to eight, but it proved not enough as the Red V held on for a win in their Wollongong opener.