Pressure continues to mount on St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan, whose team’s winless start to the season continued on Saturday with a miserable 32-0 loss to the Cowboys at Kogarah.
The Dragons are now 0-5 to start the season for the first time in the joint-venture club’s 27-year history, and players were booed off the field at full-time.
To make matters worse for the Dragons, co-captain and fullback Clint Gutherson pulled up sore in the final minute of the match and limped straight up the tunnel with an undisclosed injury at full-time.
With young playmaker Lyhkan King-Togia’s performance no better than that of Kyle Flanagan’s in the opening four games, the conundrum remains as to who should pair Daniel Atkinson in the halves, with Flanagan copping criticism for picking his son in the side each week.
With Kyle ruled out this week after suffering a heavy concussion in the Dragons’ loss to the Titans last week, King-Togia had a chance to prove he was the better pick for the No.6 jersey.
But both Atkinson and King-Togia were poor on Saturday, with their short and long kicking games below average and a momentum killer any time the Dragons threatened to score points.
In defence, St George were equally bad, as North Queensland punched straight through the middle for the first of Jaxon Purdue’s two tries, while they also had speed to beat them on the outside.
Not even when Reuben Cotter was sin-binned for a professional foul could the Dragons find points. It was the Cowboys who added to their tally in that time, after a rogue pass from King-Togia hit the deck and was scooped up by Braidon Burns, who ran the length of the field to score.
Burns later left the field in the second half after injuring his ankle.
While scrutiny grows on the Dragons coach, North Queensland’s win further eases pressure on coach Todd Payten, who was under the microscope at the start of the season.
Flanagan’s men will now have to wait another week to try to snap their losing streak, when they face the similarly desperate Sea Eagles in Wollongong next Friday.
Despite the scoreline, the first 29 minutes of the game were fairly evenly matched, with Scott Drinkwater scoring the sole try in that time after kicking a 40-20 just moments earlier.
But by half-time, the Dragons were down 16 points and the crowd at the half-filled Jubilee Stadium booed the players off the field.
It was difficult to tell whether the fans were booing their own players for failing to put a point on the board, the Cowboys for spoiling their first-half hopes, or referee Wyatt Raymond, whose penalty to the Cowboys just before half-time resulted in a second try for Purdue.
The penalty was awarded after Murray Taulagi copped a boot to the throat from Dragons winger David Fale, who stuck his leg out in a Billy Slater-esque movement as he was going up to catch the ball.
It didn’t improve for the home side when they came back after the break.
After North Queensland kept the Dragons out during the Cotter sin-bin period, they ran in a further 16 points.
When the full-time siren rang, there was no doubt about it. Dragons fans were booing their own team after another shocking loss at home.
Billie Eder is a sports reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.