2010 St. George Illawarra Dragons season

The 2010 St. George Illawarra Dragons season was the 12th in the joint venture club's history. They competed in the National Rugby League's 2010 Telstra Premiership, securing their second successive minor premiership. The Dragons went on to compete in the 2010 NRL Grand Final, defeating the Sydney Roosters to gain the club's first premiership since their formation as a joint venture club in 1999.

2010 St. George Illawarra Dragons season
NRL champions
NRL Rank1st
2010 recordWins: 17; draws: 0; losses: 7
Points scoredFor: 591; against: 319
Team information
CEOAustralia Peter Doust
CoachAustralia Wayne Bennett
Assistant coachAustralia Steve Price
Captain
StadiumWIN Jubilee Oval WIN Stadium
Top scorers
TriesBrett Morris (20)
GoalsJamie Soward (84)
PointsJamie Soward (197)
← 2009 2011 →

Season summary

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Restarting their ambitions of a maiden Premiership, the Dragons began the 2010 season without dual international Wendell Sailor after the winger announced his retirement during the pre-season.[1] The Dragons had been competition favourites since day one of the 2010 season, and for all but three rounds of the entire regular season were on top of the ladder (the Sydney Roosters were on top after rounds 1 and 2 and the Melbourne Storm were on top after round 4, when they defeated the Dragons 17-4).

In the regular season of 2010, the Dragons lost only seven matches, against Melbourne in round 4, Manly in round 9, Canberra in rounds 11 and 24, Penrith in round 17, the Gold Coast in extra time in round 20 and Brisbane in round 21. The Dragons built their season on defence and when they finished the regular season, they became only the 2nd team in the NRL to concede less than 300 points in a season. 299 points were scored against them at an average of 12.4 points per game. The St George Illawarra Dragons headed into the week one of the finals and had a great victory against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles winning 28 - 0. After the week off the St George Illawarra Dragons faced the Wests Tigers in the preliminary final and won 13 - 12. The Dragons then faced the Sydney Roosters in the NRL Telstra Premiership Grand Final and despite trailing 6–8 at halftime they scored 26 unanswered points in a wet second half to win 32-8 and secure the first NRL Premiership for the joint venture.

A major coup for the club was the re-signing of former captain and star centre Mark Gasnier following his stint in French rugby union.

Pre-season

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Date Round Opponent Venue Score Attendance Report
14 February Trial   Parramatta Eels Members Equity Stadium, Perth 34 – 20 9,450 [1]
20 February Mercury Challenge   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs WIN Stadium, Wollongong 16 – 14 [2]
27 February Charity Shield   South Sydney Rabbitohs ANZ Stadium, Sydney 26 – 26 27,221 [3]
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw

Regular season

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Date Round Opponent Venue Score Attendance Report
12 March 1   Parramatta Eels Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta 18 – 12 18,293 [4]
19 March 2   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs WIN Stadium, Wollongong 26 – 6 16,177 [5]
26 March 3   North Queensland Cowboys WIN Stadium, Wollongong 33 – 8 13,267 [6]
2 April 4   Melbourne Storm Etihad Stadium, Melbourne 4 – 17 25,480 [7]
9 April 5   Brisbane Broncos WIN Stadium, Wollongong 34 – 16 15,374 [8]
16 April 6   Gold Coast Titans Skilled Park, Gold Coast 19 – 6 21,336 [9]
25 April 7   Sydney Roosters Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney 28 – 6 36,212 [10]
1 May 8   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks WIN Stadium, Wollongong 38 – 0 15,779 [11]
8 May 9   Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Brookvale Oval, Manly 6 – 24 16,745 [12]
14 May 10   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs ANZ Stadium, Sydney 19 – 6 37,773 [13]
23 May 11   Canberra Raiders WIN Stadium, Wollongong 14 – 22 14,728 [14]
28 May 12   Parramatta Eels WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah 30 – 0 15,068 [15]
6 June 13   New Zealand Warriors Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland 22 – 20 8,312 [16]
14
20 June 15   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks Toyota Stadium, Cronulla 22 – 4 16,773 [17]
25 June 16   Wests Tigers WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah 34 – 10 16,574 [18]
5 July 17   Penrith Panthers WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah 8 – 12 12,974 [19]
18
16 July 19   South Sydney Rabbitohs ANZ Stadium, Sydney 16 – 13 22,368 [20]
23 July 20   Gold Coast Titans WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah 10 – 11 12,688 [21]
1 August 21   Brisbane Broncos Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane 6 – 10 42,269 [22]
8 August 22   Sydney Roosters Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney 19 – 12 37,994 [23]
16 August 23   Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah 32 – 10 14,740 [24]
22 August 24   Canberra Raiders Canberra Stadium, Canberra 16 – 32 20,445 [25]
28 August 25   Newcastle Knights EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle 26 – 18 23,148 [26]
5 September 26   South Sydney Rabbitohs WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah 38 – 24 18,274 [27]
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw   Bye

Finals

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Date Round Opponent Venue Score Attendance Report
12 September Qualifying Final   Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah 28 – 0 15,574 [28]
25 September Preliminary Final   Wests Tigers ANZ Stadium, Sydney 13 – 12 71,212 [29]
3 October Grand Final   Sydney Roosters ANZ Stadium, Sydney 32 – 8 82,334 [30]
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw

2010 NRL Ladder

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Pos. Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1   St. George Illawarra Dragons (P) 24 17 0 7 2 518 299 +219 38
2   Penrith Panthers 24 15 0 9 2 645 489 +156 34
3   Wests Tigers 24 15 0 9 2 537 503 +34 34
4   Gold Coast Titans 24 15 0 9 2 520 498 +22 34
5   New Zealand Warriors 24 14 0 10 2 539 486 +53 32
6   Sydney Roosters 24 14 0 10 2 559 510 +49 32
7   Canberra Raiders 24 13 0 11 2 499 493 +6 30
8   Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 24 12 0 12 2 545 510 +35 28
9   South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 11 0 13 2 584 567 +17 26
10   Brisbane Broncos 24 11 0 13 2 508 535 −27 26
11   Newcastle Knights 24 10 0 14 2 499 569 −70 24
12   Parramatta Eels 24 10 0 14 2 413 491 −78 24
13   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24 9 0 15 2 494 539 −45 22
14   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24 7 0 17 2 354 609 −255 18
15   North Queensland Cowboys 24 5 0 19 2 425 667 −242 14
16   Melbourne Storm 24 14 0 10 2 489 363 +126 01

1 Melbourne were deducted eight premiership points and barred from receiving premiership points for the rest of the season due to gross long-term salary cap breaches.[2]

Squad

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No. Position Player

1 Darius Boyd FB 2 Brett Morris WG 3 Matt Cooper CE 4 Mark Gasnier CE 5 Jason Nightingale WG 6 Jamie Soward FE (GK) 7 Ben Hornby (captain) HB 8 Dan Hunt PR 9 Dean Young HK (VC) 10 Michael Weyman PR 11 Beau Scott SR 12 Ben Creagh SR 13 Jeremy Smith LK

No. Position Player

Nathan Fien HK Neville Costigan SR Matt Prior SR Jarrod Saffy SR Trent Merrin PR Michael Greenfield PR Nick Emmett CE Luke Priddis HK Jon Green PR Kyle Stanley FE Ricky Thorby PR Peni Tagive WG Michael Lett WG

*VC - Vice Captain *GK - Goal Kicker

Transfers

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Gains

Player Gained From
Michael Greenfield South Sydney Rabbitohs
Peni Tagive Wests Tigers
Junior Paulo Parramatta Eels
Mark Gasnier Stade Français

Losses

Player Lost To
Mickey Paea Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs
Justin Poore Parramatta Eels
Wendell Sailor Retirement
Chase Stanley Melbourne Storm
Dean Whare Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

References

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  1. ^ Warren, Adrian (12 November 2009). "Wendell Sailor announces his retirement from rugby league". Fox Sports. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  2. ^ Stuart Honeysett and Brent Read (23 April 2010) Shocking end to the Melbourne Storm era The Australian