sport, dragons-den

DRAGONS 19 TITANS 18 Paul McGregor made a beeline for Trent Merrin in the sheds at half-time, asked his State of Origin star to lift and his go-to man delivered as St George Illawarra crept closer to the finals equation. The next time McGregor approached Merrin in the sheds, the back-rower told McGregor an ankle knock, which appeared to place a doubt on his availability for game three, wasn’t serious. ‘‘I challenged him at half-time. I thought he really reacted and played well in the second half with that try he scored plus he was getting nice metres,’’ McGregor said after the Dragons eked out a 19-18 win at Cbus Super Stadium on Sunday. ‘‘He’s one of my senior players and experienced players and he was challenged. He had to play on Wednesday night, along with others, but he needs to be challenged and he answered.’’ That answer came mid-way through the second half as Merrin, who ran for a game-high 149 metres, barrelled past Titans recruit Daniel Mortimer to put his team in front for good. It came after the Dragons’ other NSW representative, Josh Dugan, provided some solo heroics of his own to ensure the visitors kept in touch with a brave Titans, who plunged to a club record-equalling sixth straight loss. Merrin’s last primary involvement was the four-pointer he scored as he limped off with an ankle injury, which seemed to cast doubt on his availability for Origin III in Brisbane. But when quizzed on the severity of Merrin’s injury, McGregor said: ‘‘He said he will be OK and could jog on it, but it was at the stage where if I left him out there and he got another whack on it... it might have been detrimental for the future. ‘‘We’ll have a good look at it [Monday] and we’ll go from there, but he said it’s not too bad.’’ Merrin’s try signalled double trouble for the Titans, who lost Gold Coast and Queensland foe Nate Myles to the sin bin for dissent after he argued the toss with the referees. ‘‘If you’re going to start sin-binning blokes for abusing referees, you’re not going to have many players on the field,’’ Titans coach John Cartwright said. He also claimed there had been no edict from the NRL to crack down on backchat. Gareth Widdop’s field goal padded the Dragons lead to seven points, crucial in the end after Brad Takairangi’s 79th-minute effort set up a frantic finish. It was the Dragons’ second victory under McGregor in four games after Steve Price’s axing last month. ‘‘The spirit never left... we just had to fix up a few things,’’ McGregor said. ‘‘These guys have got a lot of belief and the amount of times they’ve been kicked or pushed or talked about... at the end of the day it’s a little bit embarrassing, I think. ‘‘No-one takes the football field not caring, we just need to improve in a few areas, I think.’’ They’ll need it for a mouth-watering return bout with Melbourne in Wollongong next Monday night after the Storm’s after-the-siren win earlier this year. ‘‘We’ve got the Storm next Monday night and everyone knows how good they are and what they’re capable of,’’ hooker Mitch Rein said. ‘‘Earlier on in the year, they got away with it due to circumstances we couldn’t control after the siren. We definitely won’t forget that.’’ The Titans and Dragons also shared a one-point thriller last season and again looked on course for another nail-biter after they were dead-locked at 12-all at half-time. Benji Marshall set up the first try for both sides, sending Leeson Ah Mau over before he provided the ammunition for Kevin Gordon’s 90-metre intercept. Mark Minichiello and Dugan traded tries to finish the first half but McGregor’s challenge was answered in a scrappy second period. Good Benji or Bad Benji – who knows which Benji is going to turn up from week to week? Scrap that - who knows which Benji is going to turn up from minute to minute? Deft passes to set up his rampaging forwards and intercept passes which set up the opposition outside backs. Inch-perfect kicks to set up crucial repeat sets when his team desperately needs them and kicks travelling backwards wouldn’t be out of place if drunk Uncle Jim launched them in the backyard of a Christmas Day game of footy. Benji Marshall’s Gold Coast circus act absolutely had it all. And a crucial two points to boot. While Marshall has done everything to keep a low profile and earn the respect of his teammates since ending his rugby union sojourn mid-season, the spotlight just keeps shining ever so brightly on this one man. Like all good playmakers, Marshall demands the ball. And it doesn’t matter if he’s only had a month with his new side, its axis is already tilted towards to the former Tiger. ‘‘Benji, like I said last week and the week before, it’s a process and he’s just got to play himself into form,’’ Dragons coach Paul McGregor said. ‘‘We’ve got to put him out there, he’s got to train hard and he’s doing that. ‘‘He’s working on little parts of his game,’’ he said. Marshall’s first meaningful contribution was when he ran the ball twice in the Dragons’ opening set. But it’s the reason why a hesitant Titans defensive line only had eyes for the ball carrier as he sent Leeson Ah Mau through a gaping hole for the first try. Then it was Bad Benji’s turn to intervene, almost precisely on the same blade of grass he engineered St George Illawarra’s opening four-pointer. This time it was an aerial delivery intended for Jason Nightingale only to land in the pouch of Gold Coast flyer Kevin Gordon to streak away and score.

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