By Rachael Price
St George Illawarra Dragons second-rower Joel Thompson is thrilled with the comprehensive 34-6 victory over the Gold Coast Titans at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah on Sunday.
The Red-and-Whites ran-in six tries in the final home game of the season to keep their aspirations of a spot in the Finals alive which included the NSW Country Origin representative notching a four-pointer of his own on the hour mark.
The three-time Indigenous All-Star, 26, is proud of his form, putting it down to honest coaching from newly appointed Head Coach, Paul McGregor.
Click To Watch The Dragons Celebrate By Singing The Team Song!
“Winning against the Titans is a great reward for Mary; he’s come in for us and done a great job,” said Thompson.
“He’s going to be a wonderful coach and everyone respects him.
“We’re going forward as a group and we really showed that against Gold Coast, we know we have to continue working hard if we want to make it to the Finals.
“We working towards those results; we want to take it all the way and today really showed everyone what we’re capable of.
“We’ve had a few rough starts to our march to the Finals but today proved that we can do it and we’ll take that confidence up to Suncorp.
“We had a really good week at training and really put our all into it and that really showed today; we executed everything very well and that’s a great reward for the coaching staff and us.
“We’re really proud to run out in our member jerseys, our members are a vital part of our club and we love to take any chance we get to thank them.
“I’m really happy with my form at the moment but there’s always room for improvement which Mary is facilitating.
“Straight away he put me in the left back-row and he showed a lot of faith in me to do that.
“He’s been very honest with me regarding what I need to work on and improve in my game and that has been really good for me as a player, I want to take it to another level.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time under Mary so I’m going to sit down and consider all my options when I have time, I’ll be making my decision at the end of the year when the season is over.
“I love this club and I love the group of boys we have here; Mary is a great coach and he’s the icing on the cake.”
