By Mary Maidiotis
St George Illawarra Dragons prop Mark Ioane believes the determination shown by his side demonstrates their ability to bounce back against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Remondis Stadium, Cronulla on Sunday.
The Otahuhu Leopards junior was rushed onto the bench for their recent fixture against the North Queensland Cowboys after completing only two sessions, picking up a try on his Red V debut.
Ioane, 24, is excited to continue learning and adapting to the squad and believes that despite a recent string of losses, the Red-and-Whites are capable of making a strong charge towards the finals.
“I thought the boys put a lot of effort in, we’re just disappointed that we came away with a loss,” said Ioane.
“It was an awesome week, I want to thank the boys and the coaching staff for all being so welcoming, they helped me a lot over the last couple of days and they got me through the game.
“When I decided to come to the Dragons, I didn’t expect to be playing a couple of days later but with the injuries occurring here at the moment, it was my chance to prove myself.
“I was just trying to get to the line as fast as I could and I saw a few backs in front of me but I tried to get away from them and I was just lucky to get the try.
“I’m still adapting to the mood here and getting used to the camaraderie out there on the field, hopefully we can work on our communication over the next couple of weeks and we’ll be a lot better for it.
“I think you can see from the effort tonight that although we’ve had some injuries, we lost our winger in the game too, we’re ready to bounce back this week and you can tell by the boys’ determination that we can do that.”
