Friday night footy LIVE: Dragons v Warriors, Eels v Dolphins

This is one of the most remarkable turnarounds we’ve seen this year.

Ben Hunt has reached out and scored, despite having three men try to drag him down close to the line, to extend the Dragons’ lead.

There didn’t look like there was a whole lot on, he decided to take the line on from close range himself, and managed to outmuscle Te Maire Martin, Wayde Egan and finally Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to reach out and plant the ball down. He doesn’t have the longest arms in the world, but they were long enough.

Zac Lomax adds the extras and it’s now 14-6 to the Dragons, despite running into a huge breeze in the first half. That’s three tries in 11 minutes.

Dragons 14 Warriors 6

What the hell is happening out there? This game was all about the Warriors in the opening 20 minutes, and now when they look up at the scoreboard they’re behind.

Mikaele Ravalawa has shrugged off a sluggish start to the season to put St George Illawarra ahead against all odds.

It all started when Ray Faitala-Mariner and Hame Sele combined with a brutal hit to dislodge the ball from Marcelo Montoya on the kick return, and a few tackles later the Red V are in through Ravalawa, who does enough to power past Montoya on the end of a shift to the right side. This is an incredible fightback from Shane Flanagan’s side.

Zac Lomax misses another difficult kick into the breeze, but the Dragons have the lead. How?

Dragons 8 Warriors 6

If ever there was a sign the Dragons are a completely different team this year, there it is.

After soaking up all that Warriors pressure, the Red V have hit back through Moses Suli. It’s all come from Ben Hunt, who ghosts to the left side of the field, and puts a charging Suli through a gap and he has no one in front of him. Huge.

Zac Lomax misses the kick, but the Dragons are back in this against the Warriors and a massive southerly breeze with 14 minutes left until the break.

Dragons 4 Warriors 6

Eventually, after all that defence on their own line, the Dragons finally get a penalty to help them downfield.

And on the very first play Ben Hunt puts Jaydn Su’A through a half gap, he swivels to offload the pass back to Hunt, who is ready to speed into the backfield, but it’s forward. By a mile. Tom Brady areas, actually. So much so, Hunt spikes the ball into the ground in frustration. Who’d want to be an NRL coach?

There’s only one team winning the field possession battle so far, and it’s not the one wearing the big Red V.

The Dragons just can’t seem to get out of their own half. Every Ben Hunt kick is being held up in the breeze, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is running each one back with interest and the big boys, led by Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake, are poking holes in the middle of the park.

Their communication is a little astray on one play with Fonua-Blake dropping a Harris pass. On their next foray into Dragons territory, Jacob Liddle comes up with a miraculous intercept.

How are the Dragons holding on? We’re almost 20 minutes in and the Warriors should be miles ahead. They’ve had 30 tackles inside St George Illawarra’s territory to one. Crikey.

Dragons 0 Warriors 6

You can’t say it wasn’t coming.

The Dragons gave the Warriors a leg-up with a cheap penalty, and the Warriors are eventually going to score when they have this many opportunities on an opponent’s line.

It all comes off crafty hooker Wayde Egan, who steps out of dummy-half, feigns to put Kurt Capewell through a gap, but fires out the back to Shaun Johnson, who has an unimpeded run to the line as St George Illawarra’s defence converged on Capewell. That was just a little bit too easy from a Dragons point of view.

Johnson makes no mistake with the easy conversion attempt. Ominous.

Dragons 0 Warriors 6

The Warriors are firing all the early shots, but somehow the Dragons have survived. There were a couple of desperate tackles on their own goal line there, not least of all from Christian Tuipulotu, who raced off the left wing to snuff out one attack.

Maybe it’s not surprising the opening few minutes have been completely dominated by the Warriors, but they’ve butchered another promising set with Kurt Capewell spilling his lollies. This southerly is really starting to gust now, too.

Dragons 0 Warriors 0

Kick-off here at WIN Stadium and the Dragons get us underway through Zac Lomax with the Warriors to have the help of the stiff southerly. Let’s hope for a belter.

It’s round seven and you know what that means, State of Origin selection debate time.

Who is Michael Maguire going to pick in his first series as NSW coach? Frankly, who knows at the moment. But I think it’s safe to say we can start having those discussions though.

Dan Walsh has run the rule over Maguire’s selection conundrums. You can read the full story here.

Well, Zac Lomax finally gets his chance in the centres tonight.

After weeks of agitating to move from the wing – from where he’s arguably been the Dragons’ best player this year – the State of Origin hopeful will have his chance to play in a position he’s spent most of his career tonight with Jack Bird (concussion) not available.

What will he bring in a rock star match-up against Roger Tuivasa-Sheck?

I’m also looking forward to the battle of the No.1s tonight with the fit-again Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad a menace last week and Tyrell Sloan back at Wollongong on a dry surface.