The struggling St George Illawarra Dragons have been burned by a pair of ridiculous ‘coach killer’ errors that left commentators completely shocked.
Early within the second half of their conflict towards the Raiders in Canberra, the Dragons led 4-0. But they’d rapidly give that lead away with a pair of woeful errors in fast succession, first a weird lifting deal with from Jack de Belin earlier than a Jack Bird hit on a kicker in flight.
Tom Starling ducked right into a deal with, placing his head low and putting one hand on the bottom. Then De Belin arrived late and bizarrely opted to carry the attacker’s legs, taking Starling properly above the horizontal and right into a ahead roll.
De Belin conceded a penalty and was positioned on report, however was very lucky to keep away from a sin bin.
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In commentary for Fox League, Warren Smith: “I can’t believe I’ve just seen that! What was he thinking there Shane?”
Shane Flanagan replied: “Well he wasn’t! He definitely wasn’t thinking. It’s a silly lift of the leg, puts him in a dangerous position.”
“Given what we know about the trigger finger the refs have for sin binning, he’s lucky not to be sent to the sin bin,” Smith added.
This season has seen essentially the most sin bins ever via seven rounds, with a file 43 sin-bins in comparison with 28 sin bins within the first seven rounds of final season and 16 in 2021.
The Dragons had been instantly burned for the silly motion, as Seb Kris burst via the road on the next set to ship
Flanagan added it was “uncharacteristic and silly” from De Belin, whereas Smith known as it “a real coach killer”.
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Dragons Press Conference | 03:29
Jack Bird, who was caught off-side earlier within the set that noticed the De Belin deal with, gave away one other silly penalty simply a few minutes later.
Bird slammed into Jamal Fogarty whereas the Raider was within the air after making a kick, shoving the kicker into the bottom. Canberra’s Jack Croker kicked the ensuing penalty to take an 8-4 lead.
“With all the talk around Anthony Griffin, all you can do as a coach is get your team ready and then you watch your players give away absolutely harebrained penalties like the last two,” Smith mentioned.
“I can’t argue with you there Warren,” Flanagan mentioned.
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
