Dragons Premier League sends out
warning

The St George Illawarra Premier League side has shown they?ll be a force to be reckoned with come September with an emphatic 36-24 win over the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval this afternoon.

Fresh from their win over the top of the table Eels last Friday night, the Dragons swept aside the sixth place Eagles with an impressive seven try display.

Down six nil early, the Dragons turned it on, scoring all seven of their tries in a row to lead 36 -6, midway through the second half.

So outplayed were Manly, frustrations took over for the home side with five minutes to go when several players were cautioned for fighting.

For the Dragons, Brett Kelly was sensational in the back row, scoring two tries, including a brilliant solo 70 metre effort.

With the chance to leapfrog Newcastle into seventh spot on for and against, St George Illawarra looked far the steadier against Manly in the opening with plenty of set completions and a solid kick chase game.

It was home side however that got on the scoreboard first through their half, Travis Burns. In what would be regarded against the run of play, Burns chipped over the top close to the Dragons line, regathered and scored a great try. Burns converted his own try for a 6-nil lead.

With thanks to a terrible error off the kick off from the Eagles, the Dragons received the ball in brilliant field position and managed to execute a top shelf try to draw the scores level. Attacking ten metres out from Manly?s line, the visitors swept the ball to the left showing quick hands. The move finished with Nick Youngquest diving over in the corner.

From that point on, the Dragons put on a rugby league clinic.

With 15 minutes left in the half the visitors piled on four more unanswered tries. Corey Maher, Tom Hewitt, Luke Dalziel - Don and Kelly who grabbed his first of the afternoon, all got in on the try scoring action. So dominant was the Dragons performance, Manly only handled the ball twice in the final 15 minutes of the half. Only poor goal kicking from the Dragons kept the home side remotely in the contest as the red and whites hit the sheds at the break 24-6 in front.

With the scent of September now wafting around the noses of the Dragons, the visitors refused to take their foot of the brakes early in the second half.

After Reece Simmonds kicked an early penalty goal, second rower Kelly showed incredible pace to beat several Eagles on the outside and sprinted 70 metres to score a great Gasnier-esk solo try.

Now totally in control of the contest, the Dragons little men started to wreak havoc around the rucks. Playing his strongest game this season, Keiran Kerr took the ball to the line at every opportunity with incredible success.

With 25 minutes left on the clock, the nippy half broke through the first line of defence to link up with Simmonds. The fullback burnt around the outside of his opposite number Mark Lennon to score another great try out wide. Now up 36-6, the red and whites were not going to be denied.

Unfortunately for the visitors, Manly rallied strongly and managed to score four late tries. The score finishing up 36-24.

St George Illawarra will have to work a little more on their defence next week as they take on the second place Newtown Jets at Oki Jubilee.

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS 36 ( B Kelly 2, C Maher, T Hewitt, L Dalziel-Don, R Simmonds tries; R Simmonds 2 goals, A Cawley, A Gorrell goal) d. MANLY SEA EAGLES 24 ( T Burns 2, D Peachey, M Creary, J Curtis tries; T Burns 2 goals)

Meanwhile in Jersey Flegg, the Dragons continued to show no mercy with another emphatic win. Playing the 12th placed Sea Eagles, St George Illawarra ran in 11 tries to register a 60-10 win.

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 60 ( S Stitt 2, B Ryan, G Ndaira, J Keith, B Davidson, D Millard, B Morris, J Dunning, S Ferguson, L Te maari tries; L Te maari 5, J Keith 3 goals) d. MANLY 10