The Dragons were unable to turn their unhappy Magic Round record around on Saturday night with Shane Flanagan’s men going down to the Wests Tigers in a 34-28 shootout at Suncorp Stadium.
The affair was turned on its head on the stroke of half-time with Jahream Bula scooping up a bombed Dragons try to race the length of the field and extend his side’s lead beyond a pair of converted tries.
Spurred by the spark of interchange duo Jacob Liddle – who nabbed a superb double – and Luciano Leilua, the Dragons stormed back within four with over a quarter of the clash to play but were unable to ultimately run the deficit down.
The clash marked Corey Allan’s first NRL outing since the Roosters’ 2023 Semi Final loss with the 27-year-old having missed the entirety of the 2024 campaign with an ACL tear suffered in preseason.
Allan was presented his jersey earlier in the week by teammate Kyle Flanagan as he became St George Illawarra Dragon #286.
Match: Wests Tigers v Dragons
Round 9 -
home Team
Wests Tigers
8th Position
away Team
Dragons
11th Position
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
The Dragons’ improved intensity without the ball was evident from the opening set of the encounter and it laid the platform for Dylan Egan to nab opening points.
A furious Moses Suli charge put the Dragons on the front foot with 20-year-old halfback Lyhkan King-Togia showing off some astute ball-playing to send Egan over untouched down the left-hand corridor the following play.
Valentine Holmes knocked over the extras to give the Dragons a 6-0 edge less than 10 minutes into proceedings.
The Wests Tigers were able to respond off the back of a piggybacking penalty with Lachlan Galvin producing a well-timed tip-on to late inclusion Charlie Staines who dove over in the left corner with Adam Doueihi slotting the conversion to lock things up at 6-6.
Holmes found the Dragons’ second of the night moments later with the greasy conditions doing little to impact either side’s willingness to move the ball.
The ball was sent Holmes’ way after a late Jaydn Su’A offload with the Dragons No.4 showing the ball to a supporting Allan and slipping out of a tackle into the backfield.
Still with plenty of work to do, Holmes sped down the left flank and muscled his way past Jahream Bula to slam the ball down and make it a 10-6 Dragons lead.
The back-and-forth nature of the opening forty persisted with the Wests Tigers taking advantage of a Dragons error to hit back through Sunia Turuva who slid over on the end of a right-side shift to give his side their first lead of the night.
The Wests Tigers extended their edge just shy of the half-hour mark with Staines finding his second after Doueihi took in an attacking Jarome Luai kick and moved the ball out to his winger to make it 16-10.
Luai’s boot produced a second try just moments later off the back of another yardage penalty with Samuela Fainu winning the chase to one of the Samoan international’s last-tackle grubbers as the scoreline grew out to 20-10.
Clint Gutherson won possession back for his side soon after lodging a successful Captain’s Challenge to overrule an on-field 40/20 call with replays showing that the wily No.1 had kept it infield.
The first half ended in nightmarish fashion for the Dragons who lost the ball over the line on the stroke of half-time with Bula picking it up to sprint away 100-plus metres untouched and make it 26-10 heading into the sheds.
Flanagan went close to finding a try for the Dragons on back-to-back occasions early in the second stanza but came up agonisingly short on both attempts.
Brent Naden left the field soon after forcing the Wests Tigers into a backline reshuffle with former-Dragon Jack Bird coming into the centres.
Jacob Liddle found a much-needed Dragons try 53 minutes in after another powerful Suli carry resulted in a rapid play-the-ball which the always-alert rake used to burrow over to the right of the sticks.
Liddle went back-to-back for the Dragons just moments later after Allan found space down the left flank and crafted a savvy pass back on the inside to King-Togia who sped into space centre-field.
King-Togia handed it off to a supporting Liddle who slid his way over the win the race to the stripe and bring it back to 26-22.
Emre Guler left the field for the Dragons just shy of the hour mark with an apparent shoulder concern bringing Toby Couchman back into the action.
Allan came up with a just as key play down the other end of the field shortly after wedging himself under Bula who fought to ground the ball after skying to reel in a Luai bomb.
The Wests Tigers extended their lead back out to six points their following set via a penalty goal after the Dragons were whistled for ruck interference on their try-line.
NRL Match Highlights: Magic Round v Wests Tigers
The Dragons again went painfully close to another only for Holmes’ final pass to go to ground as the Wests Tigers stole possession away courtesy of a successful Captain’s Challenge.
With nine minutes left, hopes of a late Dragons fightback were dealt a blow with Doueihi scooping up his own ricocheted grubber to dive over and extend the lead back out to double digits.
Hamish Stewart powered his way through with a touch over two minutes to play to notch the first try of his NRL career and give his side a faint chance, but time had unfortunately gotten away from the squad.
