By Nathan Davis
The St George Illawarra Dragons defeated the Canberra Raiders 34-16 at GIO Stadium, Canberra on Saturday.
Dragons winger Brett Morris scored banked his first hat-trick of the season in his victory which also had him skipper the team for the first time in first-grade.
His three try haul has edged him in-front of his father, Steve Morris, as the all-time leading Dragons player with the most tries against the Raiders.
Brett is currently sitting on nine tries out of eight games against Canberra.
He ran 122 metres from 12 touches, made seven tackle breaks, three line breaks, and an offload.
The leading metre-makers were Dragons winger Jason Nightingale with 174m, Raiders fullback Jordan Rapana on 171m and Dragons prop Jack de Belin with 156m.
Nightingale scored his third double this season.
Raider’s props Glenn Buttriss and Jarrad Kennedy made 38 tackles followed by Dragons hooker Mitch Rein and prop Leeson Ah Mau with 27.
In their first games back in the nation’s capital for the Red V, centre Josh Dugan and second-rower Joel Thompson both played well.
Dugan made 117 metres, four tackle breaks and two line breaks while Thompson made 86 metres with 12 touches, and 23 tackles.
Dragons prop Trent Merrin and his Raiders counterpart Paul Vaughan both took 15 hit-ups, with Merrin making 125 metres and Vaughan 138m. De Belin made 105 metres with 14 hit-ups.
Dragons Stats
Completions: 27/35 (77%)
Runs: 157 (1254m)
Line breaks: 7
Tackles: 237
Missed Tackles: 18
Offloads: 8
Errors: 6
St George Illawarra Man of the Match: Brett Morris
