Round 15
Broncos 16 l. Dragons 18

2006 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Hunt out for two months as Dragons snatch victory
Sun June 18, 2006
St George Illawarra are in equal 2nd position at the end of Round 14 after getting out of jail with a 18-16 victory with the Broncos loss further soured with the news that inform fullback Karmichael Hunt will be out for two months.

Hunt was a very controversial selection in the Australian side for the 5th May Test against New Zealand and since that moment has been in sensational form for Brisbane and was ultra impressive in his State of Origin debut last Wednesday night. Hunt fractured his foot in the 76th minute when he ran out of dummy half as the Broncos were hanging onto a slender 16-12 lead at the time.

Exciting youngster Darius Boyd will take Hunt's position at fullback and whilst Boyd has had an outstanding season on the wing, Hunt's loss will be huge for the Broncos and his combination with Darren Lockyer has helped his captain and five-eighth.

The Dragons were trailing 16-12 heading into the final moments when they got into good field position due to an error from Sam Thaiday. Mathew Head put up a bomb out of desperation where young Brett Morris, son of former International Steve Morris, jumped above the pack to score. Aaron Gorrell landed a great goal from the sideline for the Dragons to go level with Brisbane on the table following the two-point win.

Brisbane jumped out to an 8-0 lead with Shaun Berrigan scoring the opening try. Controversy came in the 16th minute that changed the complete momentum when Matt Cooper finished off a 60m movement when he accepted a blatant forward pass from Ben Creagh. It was missed by referee Tony Archer in what was a terrible decision and there for all to see.

Broncos coach Wayne Bennett after the match when asked about whether it was two or three metres forward said, "I though it was more than that.

"The frustrating thing is you have linesmen and a referee on the ground who don't call it forward when I am in the box 30 metres behind the play and everyone in there with me says 'that's a mile forward'.

"The disappointing thing is the officials can't get such simple rulings right in that situation where they have a great view of it."

Lockyer said, "The video referee cannot rule on forward passes but I thought Brent Tate was pushed out of the way by a Dragons player when he was chasing Creagh."

Bennett continued on, "Tate definitely was obstructed but the ref would not realise that and I can live with that. You want refs to rule on tries when they can instead of nit-picking.

"It was in the back play and the Dragons were in open field when it happened, so I don't blame the ref for not pulling the try up for that reason."

The Dragons scored next through Colin Best to lead 12-8, which was the half-time score.

Brisbane dug deep in the second half to fightback and leveled up when Greg Eastwood scored a powerful try. Lockyer couldn't convert the try but landed two penalty goals to push the Broncos lead out to 16-12 until losing it in the final two minutes.

Bennett said of the performance, "It was one of the most mentally strong performances I ever seen from a Broncos side. A couple of guys on the field at the end should not have been there either. Karmichael Hunt could barely run at the end."

Dragons coach Nathan Brown said, "I felt we were the superior side as far as creating opportunities. However, we need to learn when it is the right time to play and when it isn't the right time to play.

"It was probably our worst kicking performance of the year, but our attitude and defence was again outstanding."

Ben Hornby who is captain of the Dragons in Trent Barrett's absence said, "We didn't play well but we hung in there and did enough to get the two points. We are gaining in confidence each week, but know that we still need to keep working hard.

Brisbane, St George Illawarra, Cronulla and Canterbury are all in equal second position, four points behind leaders Melbourne.

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