SG Ball victory

The St George Dragons are now the SG Ball Cup premiers for 2024 defeating the Bulldogs 40-18 in Saturday's grand final at CommBank Stadium.

Their grand final win proved a fitting way to cap off a dream season for Willie Talau's men as they secured the side's first SG Ball Cup premiership since Anthony Mundine's team won in 1992.

Talau took over in 2023 and the team grew during the season and despite finishing short of the playoffs, Talau was pleased with the way the season unfolded.

2024 proved the team had the right stuff.

"There's a mindset that we tried to instil within the players and that was based around the old school values that St George was built on through their successful periods and hard work and honesty was at the top of that list," Talau said.

The side's attack set CommBank Stadium alight from early in the piece, but it was their dogged and spirited defence that proved the difference as they cruised to an eight tries to four rout.

Dragons second rower Jacob Halangahu took home Player of the Match honours having terrorised the Bulldogs' right edge with his powerful carries and inspired defensive efforts for much of the afternoon.

It didn't start as planned with an opening set error giving the Bulldogs attacking field position - scoring in the corner to make it 4-0.

It didn't take long for the Dragons to hit back with a perfect Tyler Peckham-Harris pass hitting a flying Zac Nachar who crossed to tie things up, and they kept the points coming, winger Jesse Williams scoring two tries including his 20^th of the season.

The Dragons kept marching forward and captain Shadi Hammoud's kicking game was on song feeding his backline talent.

Former Canterbury centre Talau said they have built a brand of football that suits the type of athletes they have.

"We like to play at high intensity - and there are some serious athletes here."

The Steelers Tarsha Gale team also picked up a win showing the combined clubs pathways system is working.