League: Barrett rises to the occasion

Dragons 22 Warriors 16

The Dragons might have been without nine front-line players last night but Trent Barrett more than made up for it as he almost single-handedly beat the Warriors.

Ivan Clearly's side had never beaten the Dragons in Woollongong since St George and Illawarra merged in 1999 and they were hardly likely to have a better chance, considering they were up what was effectively a Dragons B side.

Australian centre Mark Gasnier headed a list of absentees that also included Jason Ryles, Sam Isemonger, Mathew Head, Wes Naiqama, Andrew Price, Corey Payne and Ashton Sims, and the suspended Luke Bailey.

It's often said a team's star needs to step up in a crisis and it was the Wigan-bound Barrett who pulled the strings for the pre-season favourites.

He scored one brilliant solo-effort try and laid on a further two to condemn the Warriors to their sixth loss of the season.

Once again, the Warriors could say it was a game they could and should have won as teams in the top eight slip further away.

They hardly helped themselves, paying the price for some crucial errors at key times at both ends of the park.

Manu Vatuvei, in particular, looked like he had forgotten how to hang on to the ball after being sidelined with a hamstring injury, as he put his team under enormous pressure. This became contagious as it swept through the side.

The Warriors had actually started well, opening up an 8-0 lead inside 13 minutes thanks to a Steve Price try and two Tony Martin goals.

Coming off the bye last week, they looked fresh and made easy metres up the middle through the likes of Price, Ruben Wiki and Sione Faumuina.

Perhaps more importantly given the Warriors' problems with their kicking game this season, they followed it up with a series of effective kicks from Grant Rovelli, who was making his first start in the coveted No 7 jersey.

But Barrett soon settled into his work as he waltzed through three defenders to score under the posts before Danny Wicks powered over in the 27th minute.

The Warriors levelled things 12-12 after Simon Mannering was given the benefit of the doubt by the video referee when he scored in the corner five minutes later for his first NRL try in his first start this season.

Brent Webb had botched a golden scoring opportunity moments earlier when he dropped the ball with the line open but from the ensuing scrum the Warriors won a strike against the feed before Mannering touched down.

At halftime, it was anyone's game. Eight minutes after the restart, however, the Dragons had wrested control through two Clinton Greenshields tries. Both were set up by Barrett cut-out passes but the Warriors might feel slightly aggrieved over the second considering Greenshields looked to have touched the sideline with his heel.

Misi Taulapapa had the ball dislodged from his hands as he dived for the line before Webb gave the visitors a sniff of a chance when he powered over in the corner (yes, you read that right - he powered over) to close the gap to four points with 16 minutes remaining.

Try as they might to find an opening, the Warriors were continually frustrated by some good Dragons defence and those frustrations boiled over with only four minutes remaining when both sides swung their handbags at each other.

The Warriors will lament another one that got away but how often have we said that so far this season? And last year, for that matter.

Dragons 22 (C. Greenshields 2, T. Barrett, D. Wicks tries, A. Gorrell 3 gls).
Warriors 16 (S. Price, S. Mannering, B. Webb tries, T. Martin 2 gls).