Canterbury centre Josh Morris finally got one over twin brother Brett with his first-half hat-trick powering the Bulldogs to a dominant 30-4 NRL win over a woeful St George Illawarra.
Without a win over the Dragons since leaving the club in 2009, Morris took matters into his own hands to make an early play for a NSW Origin recall with a spectacular display at ANZ Stadium.
Much of his success could be attributed to a powerful effort from the Bulldogs pack, but the home side was helped no end by an ill-disciplined Dragons outfit, whose completion rates and handling were abysmal.
To make matter worse they could be short on troops for next week’s clash against Wests Tigers, with Michael Weyman and Leeson Ah Mau put on report for high tackles and Beau Scott forced from the field with a bad leg cork.
The red and whites showed none of the relentless and grinding style of play that was their hallmark under former coach Wayne Bennett, three times the visitors conceding penalties while in possession inside their own half for incorrect play the balls.
On the first two occasions, Morris went over on the following set to make it 12-0 to the Bulldogs, the Dragons right edge defence left exposed by a clearly hobbling Beau Scott – who on Friday announced his intention to follow Bennett and join Newcastle on a four-year deal in 2013.
The Dragons showed a hint of life when a delicate Brett Morris offload was matched by an equally brilliant Kyle Stanley pickup for a try before the half hour, but their joy was shortlived as Josh Morris secured his hat-trick before the teams hit the sheds when a Dean Young fumble was punished.
With Scott finally taken off at the break, the Dragons started the second stanza with plenty of intent, but with the Bulldogs’ defence refusing to buckle, there was no way back on the scoreboard.
Bryson Goodwin, whose clever offload laid on Josh Morris’ third, then put the game beyond reach with a clever chip and chase, the former Kiwi Test winger showing more urgency than Dragons skipper Ben Hornby to move the Bulldogs beyond three converted tries.
The frustration was showing as Weyman and then Ah Mau were put on report, Greg Eastwood finishing off the job with a try six minutes from time.
Bulldogs coach Des Hasler refused to get too carried away with the win, the two-time premiership-winning mentor obviously hoping to benefit from the same radar that failed to detect his powerful Manly sides of recent years.
“I wouldn’t say we quite blew them off the park, we improved on what we wanted to do last week,” Hasler said.
“It’s early days, we’re a pretty young side so we’re still working hard at different parts of the game and we think there’s still a bit of work left to be done yet.”
Josh Morris also tried to keep a lid on the hype.
“I won’t get too far ahead of myself,” he said.
“I was injured this time last year, so I just (hope to) stay injury-free for the first 10 rounds and reassess after that.”
Steve Price will also be doing some reassessing, the rookie Dragons coach hoping it was a case of one of those nights.
“We made a lot on uncharacteristic errors, not of the Dragons standards – we were virtually never in the game,” he said.
“Through the trials and last week it’s (the discipline) been outstanding.”
