By Nathan Beuman
St George Illawarra Dragons fullback Josh Dugan understands the importance of defence leading into the match against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium, Olympic Park on Sunday.
The Dragons have conceded only 58 points, including only 14 points from second-half outings, from the opening five rounds and boast the best defence in the game.
This statistic is not lost on the NSW Blues representative who admits that while the team needs to tinker with their attack, they can continue their winning run as long as they can continue to smother sides defensively.
“It’s just great to be at the back and see first hand the efforts that we are putting in,” said Dugan.
“Games are won on the back of defence. We aren’t too worried about our attack.
“We are only a pass or two off scoring a few more tries each week, and that is slowly getting better.
“We showed that against Manly, where we were short a couple of times, got held up and dropped it over the line.
“As long as our defence is there and rock solid, we should come out of games, nine times out of ten, on top.
“I think it was just our starts that let us down in the opening two rounds.
“We were letting sides get too many points on us too quick, and then we were fighting back the whole game.
“For us, it was just a matter of getting our starts right against Manly and against the Knights.
“The main thing for us was just our defensive attitude and the way we went into things.
“It’s been unreal to be a part of, and it’s very pleasing signs for the Club.”
