St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor offered no excuses as the Dragons were beaten 28-2 by Penrith on Saturday night.
In a match that was built up as a final chance for a number of St George Illawarra stars to push their claims for State of Origin selection, the Dragons were outclassed by the in-form Panthers at Panthers Stadium.
It was young Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary who did his own chances of wearing a Sky Blue jersey no harm. Cleary scored the opening try to give the Panthers a 6-0 half-time lead.
The Dragons reduced the deficit to 6-2 seven minutes into the second half with a Gareth Widdop penalty goal.
But Christian Crichton extended Penrith’s lead with a try shortly after, before four-pointers to Viliame Kikau and Reagan Campbell-Gillard sealed the result for the hosts.
McGregor said Penrith were simply too good for his team on the night.
“They were much more dominant. Their line speed was good. They were more physical than we were,” he said.
“Not surprised [by how much more physical they were]. Disappointed.
“That’s footy. It’s a journey over 25 weeks. We would have liked to have played better going into a bye. No doubt, we knew how important this game was. We prepared like that, we just didn’t go out and play as well as we should.
“Their enthusiasm, they’re physical, they’re fit, they’re strong. They’re hungry. We just didn’t maintain the standards we’ve set for the first 11 weeks. We had holes in our kick chase where we don’t have holes in our kick chase. Our marker play wasn’t good enough to stop their dummy half runs.”
McGregor said after the game he was unsure how many of his players might be chosen for NSW or Queensland for State of Origin I.
While Tyson Frizell and Ben Hunt are considered likely to play for the Blues and Maroons respectively, Jack de Belin, Tariq Sims, Euan Aitken, Paul Vaughan and Cameron McInnes were all believed to be in the mix.
The Dragons also had a number of injury scares. Hunt left the field five minutes into the second half. The halfback hobbled through the first half on a corked right thigh and emerged for the second half with the injury heavily strapped. He tried to play on but was replaced by Kurt Mann.
Sims also returned after half-time with strapping identical to Hunt’s and bravely soldiered on before eventually succumbing in the 62nd minute.
De Belin also sent a scare through the Dragons and NSW camps when he left the field with seven minutes to play after copping a knock on his injured left hip. He was replaced by Sims who limped out of the clash but McGregor said none of the injuries were serious.
