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| ceo = Peter Doust
| ceo = Peter Doust
| coach = [[Wayne Bennett (rugby league)|Wayne Bennett]]
| coach = [[Wayne Bennett (rugby league)|Wayne Bennett]]
| captain = [[matt schrembrie]]
| captain = [[Ben Hornby]]
| URL = [http://www.dragons.com.au dragons.com.au]
| URL = [http://www.dragons.com.au dragons.com.au]
| league = [[National Rugby League]]
| league = [[National Rugby League]]
| currentseason = [[National Rugby League season 2009|2009]]
| currentseason = [[National Rugby League season 2009|2009]]
| currentposition = Qualifying Finalists
| currentposition = Qualifying Finalists
| premierships = 4| premiershipyears = 0
| premierships = 0
| premiershipyears = 0
| runnerups = 1
| runnerups = 1
| runnerupyears = [[NRL season 1999|1999]]
| runnerupyears = [[NRL season 1999|1999]]
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| spoonyears = 0
| spoonyears = 0
| cap = 208
| cap = 208
| mostcap = [jack eager]]
| mostcap = [[Ben Hornby]]
| points = 557
| points = 557
| mostpoints = [[Jamie Soward]]
| mostpoints = [[Jamie Soward]]

Revision as of 11:02, 7 September 2010

St. George Illawarra Dragons
File:St George Illawarra Dragons logo.jpg
Club information
Full nameSt George Illawarra
Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s)Saints, Red V, Red and Whites, The Mighties, Dragons and Reddys and Whiteys
Founded23 September 1998
Current details
Ground(s)
CEOPeter Doust
CoachWayne Bennett
CaptainBen Hornby
CompetitionNational Rugby League
Home jersey
Home colours
 Away jersey
Away colours
Current season
Records
Premierships0 (0)
Runners-up1 (1999)
Minor premierships2 (2009, 2010)
Wooden spoons0 (0)
Most capped208 – Ben Hornby
Highest points scorer557 – Jamie Soward

The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club. They compete in the National Rugby League. The club entered the NRL competition in 1999 as a joint venture between the St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers. Since it was a joint venture between the two clubs, the previous 15 premierships which the St. George Dragons won do not count toward the total amount of premierships won by the club. They officially formed as the game’s first joint venture on 23 September 1998 and remain the only cross-city team in the NRL. The team has its headquarters and leagues clubs in both Wollongong and the Sydney suburb of Kogarah, and train and play games regularly at WIN Stadium in Wollongong as well as at WIN Jubilee Oval in Kogarah.

The Dragons reached the grand final in their first season in 1999, losing to the Melbourne Storm. They have yet to make another grand final appearance, but have only failed to reach the finals three times since their first season. The St. George Illawarra Dragons also field teams in local competitions within the St. George and Illawarra regions. With their round 25 win over the Newcastle Knights, the Dragons secured their second successive minor premiership and become the only team to be awarded the J. J. Giltinan Shield consecutively since the National Rugby League was formed in 1998. They were also the first (and so far only) joint-venture team to win a minor premiership.

History

In the wake of the Super League war of the mid-1990s, and the resulting split competition of 1997, the Illawarra Steelers found themselves struggling financially and seemed unlikely to survive past 1999. The St. George Dragons largely financed a proposal for a joint venture which would see the St George Illawarra Dragons playing in both Kogarah and Wollongong. Essentially, St George would provide the money while the Illawarra would provide a broader junior base. With the NRL's intention to rationalise the competition from 20 teams down to 14 teams and with substantial financial incentives and a relaxing of salary cap requirements for joint ventures, the Dragons and the Steelers ensured their survival by forming the League's first joint venture on 23 September 1998.

In early 2006, WIN Television Network bought a 25% share in the St. George Illawarra club for $6.5 million (half of Illawarra's share), erasing most of the debt Illawarra had to St. George. This formalised the strong support the network has shown for the Steelers in years gone by and ensured that Wollongong will continue to host world class rugby league matches. WIN Corp can only sell their stake back to the Steelers, should they wish to withdraw their involvement, thus ensuring Illawarra are properly represented in the joint venture.

David Waite and Andrew Farrar (1999–2002)

Joint ventures being a new concept in Australian rugby league, the public watched closely in anticipation of success or failure. No-one was certain how the top players sourced from the joint venture's two feeder clubs would perform when they ran out onto the field. They were unsuccessful in their first outing, losing to the Parramatta Eels 20–10, but by the 4th round they had started to form some cohesion and would go on to achieve a top 8 position on the competition ladder by the end of the regular season. In the semi-finals the Dragons won against the Melbourne Storm at Olympic Park, before returning to Sydney to dispose of the Sydney Roosters and Cronulla to reach the Grand Final.

In the 1999 Grand Final the Dragons were leading by 14–0 at the break in front of a world record crowd of 107,999. A fairytale of a maiden title in their first year seemed destined to come true; something of an advertisement to any other clubs considering the option of a joint venture, but the Storm recovered from their poor start and went into the final minutes of the game with the Dragons leading by 18–14. The Dragons were forced to perform a drop kick from their own goal line, and on the fifth tackle Brett Kimmorley kicked high towards the Dragon's corner of the field. As the Storm's winger Craig Smith caught the ball over the try-line he was knocked unconscious in a tackle by Jamie Ainscough and lost the ball. Referee Bill Harrigan deferred to the video referee who ruled a penalty try on the grounds that contact had been made with the head, giving Melbourne a 20–18 lead and the premiership title.

In the 2000 season though they had a rough start and were quoted to "suck, the Dragons recorded their worst defeat for the club, losing 70–10 against the Melbourne Storm in round 5. This was the first game these two teams played against each other since the 1999 grand final, and was played at the MCG. On 3 May to the surprise and shock of fans and club officials, Anthony Mundine announced his retirement from the club and rugby league in general with immediate effect to pursue a career in boxing. The Dragons were not going well in the first half of the 2000 season, and the main coach David Waite was replaced with assistant coach, Andrew Farrar. Soon after the replacement of coaches, the Dragons recorded their best ever win. They beat the Warriors 54–0 in round 14 at Win Stadium. The Dragons, however, missed out of the finals series, and came 9th.

Nathan Brown era (2003–2008)

In 2003, Nathan Brown, the joint venture's first number 9 achieved the position of coach, becoming the youngest non-playing coach in premiership history at the age of 29. The Dragons finished the season 10th.

2004 saw the final season of the try scoring talent Nathan Blacklock. An extraordinary scoreline was seen in the round 25 clash with Manly. Trailing 34–10 after 53 minutes the Dragons came back to win the match 36–34. This was the second biggest comeback in Australian Rugby League history. Finishing 5th, the Dragons were eliminated in the first round of the finals after losing in a thrilling game 30–31 to 4th placed Penrith.

In 2005, after their worst start to a season yet (losing 5 of their first 6 games), the St. George Illawarra side finished second in a close season on the ladder at completion of the 2005 season, just behind minor premiers the Parramatta Eels on points difference. Nathan Brown was also involved in a sideline incident when he had slapped Trent Barrett in Wollongong during a game against Manly, and was issued a $5000 fine. After progressing to the finals they defeated local rivals the Cronulla Sharks 28–22 in the quarter final of the finals series though the Dragons eventually fell 12–20 to eventual champions the Wests Tigers in the Preliminary Final. The Dragons broke the ground record at WIN Stadium twice in the 2005 season. First against rivals the Sydney Roosters and then at their home quarter final game against the Cronulla Sharks.

After a bad start to the 2006 season, the Dragons put on a mid season 7 game winning streak. This was followed by an unfortunate form slump, with a record five consecutive losses, only to return to form with a victory over the Tigers, and continue this positive form leading into the finals. The Dragons ended the regular season in sixth position.

In the finals campaign, St George faced Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium in the first round, the Dragons won the game 20–4. In the second round, they met the Manly Sea Eagles at the Sydney Football Stadium winning 28–0. In the grand final qualifier, they played the Melbourne Storm, where the Dragons went down 24–10 bowing out of season 2006.

Season 2007 saw an early injury to Mark Gasnier in the Charity Shield match against South Sydney Rabbitohs creating another poor start for the Dragons. Combined with the loss of key players such as Luke Bailey, Trent Barrett and Shaun Timmins in the off-season, the Dragons faced NRL newcomers, the Gold Coast Titans, in Round 1. The Dragons won the historic match 20–18, however lost 6 more matches after that leaving the Dragons sitting in 15th place on the NRL Ladder. This was a very inexperienced Dragons team that seemed destined for a poor injury plagued season. However, in Round 17 (vs Canberra Raiders at WIN Stadium), the Dragons scored four times more points than their previous game average, winning the match 58–16, equalling their highest ever score and their largest victory in three years. The Dragons season ended with a 28–24 loss to the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval, finishing at 13th place.

2008 saw the end of an era, with Coach Nathan Brown's contract not renewed after yet another poor start to the season, winning 1 of their first 6 matches. The club received a boost in May when former dual-code international player Wendell Sailor joined the team. Several notable players departed at the end of the year including Jason Ryles [1] and captain Mark Gasnier. The Dragons finished the season in 7th place, however they lost in the first round of the finals to eventual premiers Manly Sea Eagles 34–6 at Brookvale Oval ending a disappointing season. The era under Brown was one of frustration for Dragons fans, as there were high expectations for the strong side, but ultimately no premierships.

Wayne Bennett (2009–present)

2009, a new season a new coach and ground sponsor WIN at Jubilee Oval. Several new faces joined the club, including Jeremy Smith, Darius Boyd, Neville Costigan, Michael Weyman and Luke Priddis. The season opener against the Storm ended in a thrilling golden point extra time loss (17–16). Round 3 set a new crowd record with the victorious return to WIN Jubilee against Cronulla.

They were consistently placed first on the competition ladder in 2009, contributed by a continuous winning streak of seven games since their win against the North Queensland Cowboys on 14 June. They lost first position after a three-game losing streak while the Canterbury Bulldogs won all games in that period, but remain in the top three. However, in the final round of the 2009 regular season, St. George Illawarra defeated in-form Parramatta Eels 37–0, a game in which winger Brett Morris obtained a hat-trick and man of the match honours, while the Bulldogs lost 34–12 to the Wests Tigers. In the same game, St. George Illawarra five-eighth Jamie Soward surpassed Harry Bath's record for most points in a season by a St. George player. As a result, the Dragons won the minor premiership for the 2009 and Wayne Bennett's first season at the club, but the team was eliminated from the finals after losing both their finals matches, therefore becoming the first minor premiers since 1993 to crash out the finals altogether.

Season 2010 has seen the club lose seven matches to date, against eventual wooden spooners the Melbourne Storm, 2008 premiers the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, their perennial bogey team the Canberra Raiders, 2003 premiers the Penrith Panthers in round 17, the Gold Coast Titans in extra time in round 20, Bennett's old team the Brisbane Broncos in round 21 and a second time to the Canberra Raiders in round 24. The team has been placed first since round five.

The team won its second minor premiership in succession (the only NRL team to do so since the inception of the NRL in 1998) with victory against the Newcastle Knights in the penultimate round of the 2010 NRL season.

Season Summaries

P=Premiers, R=Runners-Ups, M=Minor Premierships, F=Finals Appearance, W=Wooden Spoons
(Brackets Represent Finals Games)
Competition Games
Played		 Games
Won		 Games
Drawn		 Games
Lost		 Ladder
Position		 P R M F W Coach Captain Notes
1999 NRL Season
 24 (4) 15 (3) 0 9 (1) 6 / 17
X
X
David Waite
Andrew Farrar
Paul McGregor
Runners Up
2000 NRL Season
 26 12 0 14 9 / 14
Craig Smith
Barrett receives Dally M medal
2001 NRL Season
 26 (2) 12 (1) 2 12 (1) 7 / 14
X
Andrew Farrar
Ainscough and Barrett represent NSW
2002 NRL Season
 24 (2) 9 (1) 3 12 (1) 7 / 15
X
Trent Barrett
Barrett new captain
2003 NRL Season
 24 11 0 13 10 / 15
Nathan Brown
Nathan Brown becomes coach
2004 NRL Season
 24 (1) 14 0 10 (1) 5 / 15
X
Dragons have a 24 point comeback
2005 NRL Season
 24 (2) 16 (1) 0 8 (1) 2 / 15
X
Gasnier Centre of the year
2006 NRL Season
 24 (3) 14 (2) 0 10 (1) 6 / 15
X
Gasnier Centre of the year
2007 NRL Season
 24 9 0 15 13 / 16
Mark Gasnier
Ben Hornby
Jason Ryles
Sign Jamie Soward
2008 NRL Season
 24 (1) 13 0 11 (1) 7 / 16
X
Mark Gasnier
Nathan Brown not renewed as coach for 2009
2009 NRL Season
 24 (2) 17 0 7 (2) 1 / 16
X
X
Wayne Bennett
Ben Hornby[2]
Minor Premiers
2010 NRL Season
 23 16 0 7 1 / 16
X
X
Minor Premiers

Colours and Jerseys

The team colours of the St. George Illawarra Dragons are red and white, colours shared by both the St. George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers. The joint venture's logo was taken directly from that of St George, with the addition of "Illawarra" to the bottom of the emblem. The emblem reflected the rich history of the St George Dragons, including an incredible 11 consecutive premierships, and the future strength of the club with the Illawarra.

The club name Dragons, is a shortened version of "Dragonslayers", the original nickname of St George. The emblem features a red shield with a silhouette of St. George, overlaid with a white stylised Dragon, with the words "ST. GEORGE" and "ILLAWARRA" above and below the shield respectively. It was originally intended for St George to face right and the Dragon to face left. It is one of the most recognisable logos in Australian sport.

Jerseys

When the St George Illawarra Dragons were formed in 1998, it was decided that the jersey of St George (first used in 1945), the famous "Red V" on white, would become the main jersey for the new club. The red used was changed to the scarlet tone used by the Steelers.

The alternate jersey initially used by the club was red and white horizontal stripes, similar to the 1921 St George Jersey known as the "blood and bandages". Since 2006, this Jersey has been reserved for use as the St George Illawarra Heritage Jersey for special occasions. This Jersey is worn during Heritage Round, when the Dragons confront fierce local rivals the Bulldogs RLFC.

In 2004 and 2005, the club used a jersey similar to the Steelers main jersey for Heritage matches, acknowledging the rugby league history of the Illawarra region, though not as a full time alternate strip. This jersey was predominantly red with white stripes on the sleeves. With Adidas producing the club's official merchandise from 2006, a generic Adidas design – predominantly red with three white stripes down the sleeves – was adopted as the full time alternate strip; before another re-design in 2008, which better reflected the old Steelers jersey. Reebok will produce supporter and team kits from the 2010 season.

Club Jerseys

2010 Squad

The St. George Illawarra Dragons have 30 signed players in First Grade that play in the main competition.

No. Position Player

Jack Bosden – SR Darius Boyd – FB Matt Cooper – CE Neville Costigan – LK Ben Creagh – SR Nick Emmett – CE Nathan Fien – HK Mark Gasnier – CE Jon Green – PR Michael Greenfield – PR Ben Hornby – HB Dan Hunt – PR Michael Lett – WG Jake Marketo – SR Trent Merrin – PR

No. Position Player

Brett Morris – WG Jason Nightingale – WG Junior Paulo – SR Luke Priddis – HK Matt Prior – SR Jarrod Saffy – SR Beau Scott – CE Jeremy Smith – SR Jamie Soward – FE (GK) Kyle Stanley – FE Peni Tagive – WG Ricky Thorby – PR Joe Vickery – WG Michael Weyman – PR Dean Young – LK (vc)

Source = Dragon's 2010 Squad

- Captain

- Injured

Representative players

Main article: List of St. George Illawarra Dragons representatives

Home Grounds

Jubilee Stadium and Walk of Fame, Park Street, Carlton, Sydney

The Dragons have two home grounds, reflecting the joint nature of the club;

Half of the Dragons home matches are played at Jubilee Oval (previously the home of the St George Dragons), while the remainder of their home matches are played at the Wollongong Showground (previously the home ground of the Illawarra Steelers).

The club has previously played Sydney home games out of the Sydney Football Stadium (2000–2002) and Stadium Australia (2008), due to redevelopment or unavailability of Jubilee Oval.

The club has taken their home ground advantage away from their usual home grounds to the Sydney Football Stadium for the ANZAC Day Clash against the Sydney Roosters in 2004, 2006 and 2010 seasons.

Stadium Records

Leagues Clubs

St George Leagues Club, Beverley Park, Sydney

As well as having two administrative offices, St. George Illawarra are supported by two separate Leagues clubs – one in each of the St. George and Illawarra areas.

St. George Leagues Club:
The St. George Leagues Club is located on the Princes Highway at Beverley Park close to the northern home ground of Jubilee Oval at Carlton. Established in 1963, St. George was one of the first Super Leagues clubs developed in the 60's and was commonly referred to as the Taj Mahal because of the use of white marble in the original building. Very little of the original building is still there today after extensive refurbishing and redesigning the entire club to make it one of the most superbly fitting clubs in Australia. It is currently ranked 9th (out of 10) of the best Leagues Clubs in Sydney.

Steelers Club:
Situated in the heart of the vibrant City Beach precinct, the Steelers Club is ideally located adjacent to WIN Entertainment Centre and WIN Stadium. It is directly across the road from the grounds Western Grandstand. Established in 1990, the club has struggled financially against much larger and more popular leagues clubs in Wollongong, such as Collegians, Dapto Leagues Club, Wests Illawarra Leagues Club, and Shellharbour Workers Club in Shellharbour. However, after a major restructure of its operations, the Steelers Club has trading profitably over the last 12 months. Twenty percent of the club premises were sold to Bermuda based Billionaire and owner of WIN Corp Bruce Gordon. The sale fetched 2.6 million dollars [3].

Supporters

Supporters of the Dragons mainly come from the club's local areas, the suburbs of the St. George district in Sydney (the Hurstville, Rockdale, and Kogarah Council regions), and the Illawarra on the south-coast of NSW. The St. George Illawarra Dragons also have a huge following in south-east Queensland, as a significant number of the club's 'Red V' memberships are from people in this area. The Dragons also have supporters from all over NSW, with the club receiving record crowds at away games at ANZ Stadium (Stadium Australia) at Sydney Olympic Park. Notably there is also a large Dragons following in Victoria, based around Melbourne and Geelong.[4] It is understood that the club receives support from NRL fans in other states as well, mostly due to the Dragons' world famous run of eleven consecutive premierships in the 1950s and 1960s.

Notable supporters

Rivalries

Due to St George enjoying great success over the years, the St George Illawarra Dragons have inherited several fierce rivalries, while also creating a few new ones since forming the joint venture.

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

St George Illawarra has a fierce rivalry with neighbour the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. The Bulldogs were founded in 1935, 14 years after St George. St.George inflicted a RL record 91-6 defeat of Canterbury in 1935 but Canterbury enjoyed premiership success first, however St.George recorded 11 straight premierships in the years following (1955–1966). Since then, both clubs have inflicted Premiership defeats on the other, St George defeating the Bulldogs in their last Grand Final success in 1979, Canterbury returning the favour in 1985.[1] The two sides are rivals in the NRL Heritage Round.

Round 10, 2009 saw a controversial finish to the only home-and-away clash between these two sides during that season. Jamal Idris was denied a try which would have won the game for the Bulldogs after they had trailed the entire match. The Bulldogs had made a line break on the halfway line following an offload by Bryson Goodwin, only for the try to be disallowed as the Video Referee incorrectly determined that Greg Eastwood had obstructed Dragons Five-eighth Jamie Soward when the line break was made, with the Dragons winning 20–18.

In 2010 the Dragons won both matches convincingly, keeping the Bulldogs to just one try in both matches whilst scoring 26 and 19 of their own in rounds 2 and 10 respectively. This rivalry is fuelled even more with the Morris twins playing for both clubs, Brett for the Dragons and Josh for the Bulldogs.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

Another one of St George Illawarra's fiercest rivalries is with neighbour The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. The Sharks along with Illawarra originally were part of the St George juniors area, and the Sharks has been viewed as St George's "little brother".[2] Until their merger with Illawarra, the Dragons had enjoyed more success than the Sharks, who remain premiership-less after 42 years. Both clubs have been accused of poaching players from the other, and compete for fans in the same region. In 1999, the Cronulla CEO infamously cut up a St George Jersey after a match at Toyota Stadium. During the Super League war, Cronulla-Sutherland was one of only 3 Sydney teams to join the rival competition, entrenching further spite from Dragons fans. The Dragons have won the past 4 clashes from 2009–2010, winning 10-6, 26-4, 38-0 and 22-4.

Charity Shield logo

South Sydney Rabbitohs

St George won 15 premierships, the Rabbitohs 20. The Rabbitohs and Dragons have met several times in grand finals, and being the north-eastern neighbours of St George, have had many fierce encounters. The most significant match of this rivalry is the Charity Shield, an important pre-season contest.[3]

Sydney Roosters

St George has another strong rivalry with the Sydney Roosters. During the 1990s, the Roosters had made secret discussions to merge with the Dragons, with the Dragons jersey and emblem to disappear. Fans were outraged, and the attempt aborted. St George Illawarra annually contests the Club ANZAC Game against the Roosters, a tradition dating back to the 1970s, but has been contested regularly since 2002.[4]

Brisbane Broncos

St George and Brisbane Broncos contested the 1992 and 1993 Grand Finals, creating a fierce rivalry (see New South Wales Rugby League season 1993). It is also noted that the Dragons had the longest winning streak against the Brisbane Broncos than any other club (eight, from round 23, 2005 to round 4, 2009 inclusive, including one final in 2006), across five years. With former Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett at the helm of St George Illawarra, and Wendell Sailor, a popular face in the NRL and a former Bronco, the rivalry only increased. In 2009, the Dragons defeated the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium early, and were then beaten in Wollongong by the Broncos later on in the season. One game a piece, the two sides met up in Brisbane in the finals, where they lost to the Broncos 24–10, thus ending the Dragons season and also that of Wendell Sailor's career. Ironically, his first (and last) game for the Dragons were both against the Broncos.

Some memorable matches between the Dragons and the Broncos have included:

  • Round 11, 2002: Brisbane were at the top of the ladder undefeated at the time until they ran into the Dragons at Aussie Stadium on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The Dragons won 28-20 to inflict Brisbane's first defeat of the season, but in round 17 the Broncos got them back with a 34-22 victory at ANZ Stadium.
  • Round 26, 2003: The Dragons were out of finals contention and the Broncos the previous week had lost a then club-record breaking sixth straight loss when the two teams came together at Suncorp Stadium in the final round of the 2003 season. The second-string Dragons side, without more than half of its' first grade side stunned the Broncos 26-25 with hooker Mark Riddell kicking an improbable penalty goal with just over 90 seconds remaining. This condemned the Broncos to their seventh loss in succession and gave Dragons fans some hope for the 2004 season.
  • Round 12, 2004: Not even an early try from Mark Gasnier (who was dropped from the New South Wales State of Origin team for disciplinary issues) could inspire the Dragons as they lost by just two points, 24-22.
  • Round 23, 2005: In a potential Grand Final preview, scores were locked at 0-0 for the majority of the first half before the Dragons broke away in the second half to record a 24-4 win and instigate Brisbane's then-traditional late-season poor form.
  • Round 15, 2006: With the Dragons trailing 16-12 with two minutes remaining, Dragons winger Brett Morris scored his first-ever first grade try in the corner in the dying minutes after catching a Mathew Head bomb. The try was allowed, leaving Dragons hooker Aaron Gorrell (in a twist of irony, he later went on to play for the Broncos) with the sideline conversion to win the game. Gorrell nailed it and the Dragons won the match 18-16.
  • 2nd Qualifying Final, 2006: The Dragons upset the Broncos 20-4, the third time the Dragons defeated Brisbane in that year. The Broncos ultimately went on to win the premiership.
  • Round 13, 2008: Wendell Sailor played his first game for the Dragons against the Broncos, but was rested just before halftime following a jaw injury suffered int he first half. The Dragons won 34-16.
  • Round 23, 2008: Sailor marked his return to Suncorp Stadium with his first try since coming back to rugby league in a win to the Dragons, 24-20.
  • Round 4, 2009: Wayne Bennett, Darius Boyd and a host of others opposed the Broncos for the first time in their lives. Despite conceding an early try to Israel Folau, the Dragons won 25-12 with Wendell Sailor appropriately scoring the match winning try.
  • 2nd Semi-Final, 2009: The Broncos ended the Dragons season with a 24-10 win, and the Dragons became the first minor premiers in 16 years to crash out of the finals altogether.

The honours were divided in 2010 with the Dragons winning 34-16 in round 5 in Darius Boyd's 100th game (73 for the Broncos and 27 for the Dragons) but the Broncos got them back 10-6 at Suncorp Stadium in round 21 with the Dragons not scoring until just before full-time.

Players currently playing for the Dragons who have won premierships with Brisbane include Darius Boyd and Luke Priddis, who also won a premiership with Penrith in 2003. Others of note include Nick Emmett who was brought to the club by Wayne Bennett, and Neville Costigan, who was sacked just before the Broncos' 2006 success.

Melbourne Storm

These two teams played in the Grand Final in 1999. It is best remembered most for the infamous penalty try conceded by Dragons winger Jamie Ainscough that cost the Dragons the premiership. It was the Dragons' first Grand Final appearance as a joint venture and the Storm's first Grand Final appearance in just its second year in existence. The Dragons had led 14-0 at halftime only for Melbourne to come back and claim a controversial 20-18 win following the penalty try two minutes from time. To date, this remains Melbourne's only premiership after the Storm had been stripped of its 2007 and 2009 titles following mass salary cap breaches.

The two teams have also had some memorable, not to mention controversial matches in the decade that followed, none more so than the Grand Final rematch in 2000 which saw the Storm annihilate the Dragons 70-10 at the MCG (this remains St George Illawarra's biggest defeat as a joint-venture to date). In the lead up to that match, then-Dragons five-eighth Anthony Mundine had claimed that the Storm were not worthy premiers, sparking anger from the Storm's fans and players, thus the catalyst for the huge win. The Dragons however did claim revenge later that year with a 50-4 win at WIN Stadium (that also remains the Storm's worst ever defeat to date).

Melbourne won 24-16 in round 12, 2005, capping a horror weekend for both the red-and-white teams in Melbourne (the other team, the AFL's Sydney Swans, got thrashed by St Kilda the night before).

The 2009 season opened with these two teams going head to head in another much talked about match. Dragons five-eighth Jamie Soward was labelled a 'rag doll' in defence whilst trying to stop the Storm's Greg Inglis scoring a try, however ever since that match Soward's game has matured. The Dragons lost 17-16 in extra time, with Inglis scoring the match winning field goal. In the return match, Soward was also the centre of attention as he used his foot to prevent Inglis again from scoring, resulting in an eight-point try and Soward being put on report (he was reprimanded for this). The Dragons won this match 26-12. In round 4, 2010, the Dragons were the last team to lose premiership points to the Storm before their salary cap scandal was revealed.

Club Records

Further information: St. George Illawarra Dragons Records

(updated as of 13 March 2009.)

Player Records

  • (*) Player no longer in the St. George Illawarra team.

Head to Head record

Since the foundation of the St. George Illawarra Dragons, the club has achieved the following Win/Loss Record:[8]

(Correct to the completion of Round 14, 2010)
Games Wins Drawn Loss Points For Points Against +/- Win %
298 160 5 133 6923 5921 +1002 54.53%

Coaches and Captains

Sponsorship

All official Dragons merchandise is produced by Reebok as of 2010.

Official NRL Sites

News Items

References

  1. ^ Webster, Andrew (21 June 2008). "Ryles quits Dragons". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
  2. ^ "Wayne Bennett appoints Ben Hornby as captain of St George Illawarra". Fox Sports. 5 March 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
  3. ^ . Illawarra Mercury http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/steelers-club-approves-26-million-bailout/1344484.aspx. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ Melbourne Based Dragons Supporters
  5. ^ theaustralian.news.com.au (7 October 2009). "Former PM John Howard sounded out to overhaul rugby league, chair commission". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 7 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ a b Dodson, Louise (24 August 2004). "Latham has a stack of influential support". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 20 October 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ Lee, Brett (5 October 2003). "Bat and ball? We're all talkin' league today . . ". The Sun-Herald. Australia: Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 11 April 2010. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ Rugby League Tables / Win-Loss Records / St George Illawarra
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