Warriors thrash Dragons

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St George Illawarra Dragons v Warriors

New Zealand has thrashed the Dragons by 48-18 at WIN Stadium in Wollongong tonight, consolidating their place in the NRL top eight.

Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was the star for the visitors scoring four sensational tries to add to his season highlight reel which has been very impressive so far in 2023. The former Kiwi Test captain was well supported by a rejuvenated Shaun Johnson who was also superb for the visitors, having a hand in several tries and scoring one himself.

The loss for the Dragons further piles pressure on the playing group, who will no doubt face another week of headlines with skipper Ben Hunt sure to feature heavily as he looks to determine his immediate future with Dragons management early next week.

While on the commentary heading into the game was firmly on the Dragons, New Zealand were the first to put points on the scoreboard through Watene-Zelezniak, who scored his first try following a slick backline play. Johnson missed the conversion from out wide and it was 4-0 after as many minutes.

The home side then returned serve through their dynamic fullback Tyrell Sloan, who sliced through the Warriors defence to get the Dragons on the scoreboard. Zac Lomax converted to put the Dragons in front by 6-4.

New Zealand then put themselves back in front when Warriors five-eighth Luke Metcalf produced a cut out ball close to the line. The pass then skidded off the ground and into the arms of his winger Marcelo Montoya who crashed over in the corner.

The Warriors then kicked into gear with back-to-back tries through Shaun Johnson kicks, the first Bayley Sironen who latches onto a deft grubber close to the line and the second to Jackson Ford who collected an uncontested bomb to give his side a commanding 20-6 lead at halftime.

St George desperately needed things to go their way in the second half and they got some luck when Warriors backrower Marata Niukore was sent to the Sin Bin following a high tackle on Dragons centre Moses Suli.

With New Zealand down to 12 players the Dragons took advantage, when prop Zane Musgrove crashed over following an inside pass from dummy half by Jacob Liddle to give the home fans some hope.

The air was quickly taken out of the balloon however, when Watene-Zelezniak scored his second try after some quick hands from his inside men, which allowed enough space for the flying winger to produce a stunning dive and plant the ball inches inside the corner post.

New Zealand then returned to full strength, which saw immediate dividends when prop Addin Fonua-Blake produced a sublime offload to Shaun Johnson who scored under the posts. This was followed by another Watene-Zelezniak break down the right-hand side and this time the former Bulldog found his centre Rocco Berry in support to score and extend the lead to 36-12.

St George then stopped the onslaught temporarily when prop Francis Molo dived on a grubber which ricocheted off the posts to score a fortunate try.

Watene-Zelezniak then resumed normal transmission, scoring two more tries to register a career high four tries to send his side back to New Zealand with confidence sky high prior to returning to Mount Smart Stadium in Round 18 where they face the Rabbitohs.

St George-Illawarra now head into a local derby against Cronulla at Shark Park next Thursday night with their season in tatters and the conjecture over skipper Ben Hunt's future sure to again weigh heavily on the playing group heading into next week.