The Dragons were taken down by the Panthers 28-6 in their Magic Round clash in Brisbane on Sunday evening.
The week proved a celebration of Dragons skipper Damien Cook as he prepared for his milestone 250th NRL appearance.
A Helensburgh Tigers junior, Cook made a long-awaited homecoming to the Dragons in 2025 having made his NRL debut for the club back in Round 6, 2013.
Dean Young’s men worked hard and, despite having a try taken off them in contentious fashion on the stroke of half-time, clawed their way to back within a dozen entering the final quarter of the match.
Cook was excellent running for 69 metres to go along with a game-high 60 tackles whilst young forwards Toby Couchman – 157 metres and 59 tackles – and Dylan Egan – 63 metres and 45 tackles at 100 per cent efficiency – held their gloves up, but the Dragons ultimately fell short in their fightback.
“I thought the boys competed really hard and showed lots of signs of the team that we can be,” Young said.
“I don’t think the scoreline was a true indication of how the game went... Four out of their five tries came from our yardage errors, so we’ve got to tidy that up.”
Match: Panthers v Dragons
Round 11 -
home Team
Panthers
1st Position
away Team
Dragons
17th Position
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
An early Christian Tuipulotu intercept earnt the Dragons an opportunity on the attack and the Dragons winger looked to have crossed off it only for video officials to rule a double movement in the grounding attempt.
It was instead the Panthers who nabbed first points with Thomas Jenkins the beneficiary of a well-placed Nathan Cleary bomb. Cleary added the extras from the left touchline to make it 6-0.
The rain began teeming down shortly after as the match developed into an arm-wrestle of sorts.
Despite enjoying a majority of first-half territory, the Dragons conceded a second try just four minutes out from the half-time siren with Jenkins muscling his way over in the right corner.
Cook appeared to have produced a magical moment in his milestone outing on the stroke of half-time miraculously streaking through to toe his own kick forward and win the race to the ball against the run of play
The video officials had other ideas however ruling that Cook had illegally toed the ball out of Brian To’o’s grip much to the disappointment of the Dragons – and neutral – supporters.
The first points of the second stanza belonged to the Panthers with Isaiah Papali’i going over off the back of a Casey McLean break to push the difference out to 18.
Moses Suli left the action due to back spasms shortly after with Hayden Buchanan injected into the contest at right centre and marking up against former Under 19s Origin roommate McLean.
NRL Match Highlights: Magic Round vs. Panthers
It took an hour of play but the Dragons nabbed their first points of the evening through Tuipulotu who slammed the ball down in the left-hand corner off a frantic, fifth-tackle shift.
Any chances of a Dragons fightback were dashed entering the home stretch with To’o going over untouched on the end of a right-side shift to make it 24-6.
Luke Garner went over for Penrith as the seconds ticked away to seal the result and ensure that the Dragons’ luckless Magic Round run would continue.
NRL Press Conference: Magic Round vs. Panthers
