St.George-Illawarra Dragons

St George and Illawarra merged on 23rd September 1998 and played their first season in 1999. St George provided most of the finance for the venture and Illawarra provided a large feeding ground of juniors. Both clubs shared the colours of red and white and agreed to keep the red 'V' of St George on the jerseys. St George has had the red 'V' since 1945. David Waite was the first coach and Andrew Farrer took as coach during the 2000 season.

The first season was very successful, finishing runners up after losing the Grand Final to the Melboure Storm 20-18, after Melbourne were awarded a penalty try in the final minutes of the game. This game was played in front of a record crowd of 107,999 at Telstra stadium in Sydney (now ANZ stadium). St George had finished 6th on the table which qualified them to play in the finals.

2000 - Finished 9th, worst defeat ever lost 70-10 v Melbourne Storm, also best win against New Zealand Warriors 54-0. Missed the finals in 9th place.

2001 - Finished 7th

2002 - Finished 7th

2003 - Finished 10th
New coach Nathan Brown took over. Youngest non-playing coach ever at age 29.

2004 - Finished 5th

2005 - Finished 2nd

2006 - Finished 6th

2007 - Finished 7th

2008 - Finished 8th

2009 - Finished 1st - Minor Premiers
New coach Wayne Bennett takes over. New players include Jeremy Smith,
Darius Boyd, Neville Costigan, Michael Weyman and Luke Priddis.

2010 - Finished 1st - Premiers and Minor Premiers
Colours:- Red and White

Grounds Win Stadium Wollongong
and Win Jubilee Oval

CEO - Peter Doust
Coach - Wayne Bennett
Captain - Ben Hornby

Visit - The Dragons

Ben Hornby (c), Darius Boyd, Matt Cooper, Neville Costigan, Ben Creagh, Nick Emmett, Nathan Fien, Jon Green, Michael Greenfield, Dan Hunt, Michael Lett, Trent Merrin, Brett Morris, Jason Nightingale, Junior Paulo, Luke Priddis, Matt Prior, Jarrod Saffy, Beau Scott, Jeremy Smith, Jamie Soward, Peni Tagive, Ricky Thorby, Michael Weyman, Dean Young.

New Arrivals - Michael Greenfield (Rabbitohs), Peni Tagive (Wests Tigers), Junior Paulo (Eels)

Departures - Wendell Sailor (retired), Chase Stanley (Storm), Mickey Paea (Bulldogs), Justin Poore (Eels), Dean Whare (Sea Eagles)

2009 Squad

Darius Boyd, Jason Nightingale, Matt Cooper, Neville Costigan, Mickey Paea, Justin Poore, Ben Creagh, Luke Priddis, Nick Emmett, Matt Prior, Daiel Fepuleai, Alex Ranieri, Jon Green, Jarrod Saffy, Mathew Head, Wendall Sailor, Beau Henry, Beau Scott, Ben Hornby(c), Jeremy Smith, Dan Hunt, Jamie Soward, Kane Linnett, Chase Stanley, Michael Lett, Jake Marketo, Ricky Thorby, Michael Weyman, Trent Merrin, Dean Young, Brett Morris.

Coaches - David Waite 1999-2000
Andrew Farrer - 2000 - 2002
Nathan Brown - 2003 - 2008
Wayne Bennett 2009 - contracted until 2011

Captains:-

Mark Coyne 1999
Paul McGregor 1999
Craig Smith 2000 - 2001
Nathan Brown 2001
Trent Barrett 2002 - 2006
Jason Ryles 2007
Ben Hornby 2007
Mark Gasnier 2007 - 2008
Ben Hornby 2009
Ben Hornby 2010

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October 3rd, 2010

Congratulations to St George Illawarra on becoming the Premiers of 2010 after defeating the Sydney Roosters in the NRL Grand Final today at ANZ Stadium Sydney, in front of a sold out crowd.
Score: Dragons 32 defeated Roosters 8.
At half time Roosters where leading 8 points to 6
Clive Churchill medal went to Darius Boyd.
Referees:- Tony Archer and Shane Hayne
Video Ref was Bill Harrigan

September 25th, 2010

The Dragons defeated Wests Tigers 13 - 12 today at ANZ stadium to win a place in the grand final next week.

September 12th, 2010

Today the Dragons defeated Manly 28 - 0 at Win Jubilee Stadium in the first week of the finals. The Dragons will now have a week to rest before their next finals game.

September 5, 2010

St George Illawarrra Dragons finish the season as Minor Premiers and also with a good win over South Sydney 38-24 in the final round of the premiership.
Next week the Dragons will play Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in week 1 of the finals.

Wednesday 7th October, 2009

Today the Kangaroo Squad for the Four Nations Tour was named. Not one player from Minor Premiers St George- Illawarra Dragons was named in the Squad of 24.

Players named in the Squad for the Four Nations Tour:-

Petero Civoniceva (Penrith), Cooper Cronk (Melbourne), Robbie Farah (Wests Tigers), Israel Folau (Brisbane), Paul Gallen (Cronulla), Kurt Gidley (Newcastle), Ben Hannant (Bulldogs), Jarryd Hayne (Parramatta), Nathan Hindmarsh (Parramatta), Justin Hodges (Brisbane), Ryan Hoffman (Melbourne), Greg Inglis (Melbourne), Michael Jennings (Penrith), Darren Lockyer (capt, Brisbane), Luke Lewis (Penrith), Josh Morris (Bulldogs), David Shillington (Canberra), Billy Slater (Melbourne), Cameron Smith (Melbourne), Sam Thaiday (Brisbane), Johnathan Thurston (North Queensland), Trent Waterhouse (Penrith), Anthony Watmough (Manly), Brett White (Melbourne).

Saturday 19th September 2009

Tonight the Minor Premiers the Dragons were eliminated from the finals series.
They lost to the Broncos up in Brisbane 24-10. The teams left in the finals now are the Broncos, the Storm, the Eels and the Bulldogs. Next week the Eels meet the Bulldogs at ANZ stadium and the Broncos meet the Storm at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne.
Congratulations to St George on a great season, allthough they will be extremely disappointed on missing out on the Grand Final.

Minor Premiers St George meet up with 8th position Parramatta Eels in the first week of finals. St George had a huge win over the Eels last week at Kogarah 37-0.

The NRL asked the Dragons to consider moving the game to a bigger stadium to accommodate another 20,000 fans. They were offered a large financial incentive to do this, but declined.

Finals Week 1 Sunday 13th September 2009

St George v Parramatta
Venue: WIN Jubilee Stadium at Kogarah

In an amazing turnaround from last week, the Parramatta Eels defeated St. George Dragons at Kogarah 12-25. They achieved this with only 48% possession.
This was a sensational win over the Minor Premiers. Parramatta now continue on and will play The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans in Sydney at the Sydney Football Stadium next Friday night 18th September.

St George will now travel to Brisbane to play the Broncos who are in sizzling form.
Parramatta's win also means that Manly's season is now over.

The return of Eric Grothe and Nathan Hindmarsh strengthened the team and they had a great defensive game against the Dragons.
The Eels led 12-08 at half time after tries by Luke Burt and Daniel Mortimer. Dan Hunt score a try for the Dragons in the 37th minute. In the 61st minute, Eric Grothe took an intercept and ran almost 80 metres to score under the posts. Brett Morris score for the Dragons in the 70th minute. A magnificent field goal from way out by Luke Burt sealed the game for the Eels in the second half. Then Jarryd Hayne scored a superb solo try just before full time. He is such an amazing player!
Krisnan Inu may return to the team for next week's game if he recovers well from a hamstring strain.

Match Statistics:

St George Illawarra 12
Tries to Dan Hunt 37m, Brett Morris 70m.
Conversions: Jamie Soward 1/2
Penalty Goals: Jamie Soward 1

Parramatta 25
Tries to Luke Burt 26m, Daniel Mortimer 31m, Eric Grothe 61m, Jarryd Hayne 77m
Conversions: Luke Burt 4/4
Field Goal: Luke Burt 76m

Crowd 18,174

Man of the Match: Jarryd Hayne

Most Games - Ben Hornby 177

Most Tries in Season - Nathan Blacklock - 27 (2001)

Most Points - Mark Riddell - 517 (30 tries, 198 goals and 1 field goal)

Most points in season - Mark Riddell - 166 (2003)

Top try scorer - Nathan Blacklock - 100 in 114 games

Top goalkicker - Mark Riddell - 198

Most points in 1 match - Amos Roberts - 22 and Jamie Soward - 22

Biggest win - 54-0 v Warriors Win Stadium 6th May 2000

Biggest loss - 10-70 v Storm at the MCG 3rd March 2000

Biggest comeback - losing 34-10 after 57 mins V Manly, won 36-34 at Oki Jubilee Stadium 19th August 2004

Worse Collapse - Winning 14-0 at half time v Storm, lost 20-18 at Stadium Australia in the 1999 Grand Final.