Dragons 12
Warriors 11
A sunny autumn day at Wollongong yesterday should have meant few mistakes and a run of points from two quality teams with the opportunity to express themselves with the football.
It was an exciting and spectacular contest, but just four tries resulted as both the Warriors and Dragons produced great defence along with a frustrating run of penalties and errors that robbed the contest of the classic label.
Again the Warriors had a late chance for a field goal to push into the golden-point period but, again, as the ball came back to Stacey Jones, he was unable to secure it and score.
Maybe it was the back-to-back overtime games and the travel to Melbourne where the Warriors drew with the Storm after 90 minutes last Sunday - and then the flights home and back to Sydney after a four-day turnaround - that drained them of accuracy in execution.
Twice the Warriors let a lead slip by handing the Dragons the ball through turnovers. They failed to press on and secure the game while the Dragons struggled with a run of injuries.
The Warriors knew they had blown both the game and a chance to elevate themselves into the top eight in a very tight competition.
Instead they sit outside that playoff zone one-third of the way through the season - a position they were also in this time last year.
"We did some really good things out there today and we did some really dumb things," said Nathan Fien, who was shifted to five-eighth so Joel Moon could push out to centre, with the Christchurch hooker/half Lewis Brown making his debut from the bench.
The coaching staff were clearly looking for three things: more control from the halves through Fien, more pace in midfield by setting Moon against Matt Cooper and a greater threat up front, with Simon Mannering going back to the pack.
It worked up to a point - Fien was solid as was Mannering, but then he always is.
The Warriors received five penalties in a row at one stage mid-first half as the Dragons tried to slow their play-the-ball. But all they came away with was two points from Patrick Ah Van's boot after he was preferred over Denan Kemp as right wing and goal-kicker.
Kemp had chances to win the game against the Roosters and Storm in ordinary time and his misses turned out to be costly, as did Ah Van's yesterday as he missed both conversion opportunities.
Neither side could get anything more than two points from penalties for 30 minutes due to the number of turnovers.
Skipper Steve Price's trademark charge-down on chip from Jamie Soward saw Mannering gather the ball and flee 80m down the left. He was cut down by a copybook tackle from fullback Brett Morris just outside the 10m line. But the Warriors pushed the ball to the other wing where Ah Van went over. Jones slotted a field goal as the hooter went for the break and put the visitors up 7-2.
Dragons and Kiwis lock Jeremy Smith, who had a brief to curtail Jones' impact, left the field at 25 minutes with an ankle problem, and Cooper and Wendell Sailor struggled with leg injuries as big hits from the Warriors told.
But the visitors failed to maintain momentum at crucial times in the game.
The hero for the locals was secondrower Ben Creagh, who set Morris away at 57 minutes to make it 7-6, and then scored their last points himself at 70 minutes.
In between, Price was pinged by referee Ben Cummins for impeding the play-the-ball. Soward goaled and it was crucial.
With 90 seconds left it was Creagh who flew off the Dragons defensive line early and offside to harass Jones as he lined up for a last shot . Jones' hands let him down.
The Warriors have never won in Wollongong in seven starts.
Price found fault in the Warriors' efforts. "We came up with 15 errors and nine of those were in the second half, and most of them were at critical times."
They came through without injury and have the bye before hosting the Titans.
Dragons: Ben Creagh, Brett Morris tries; Jamie Soward 2 goals
Warriors: Patrick Ah Van, Jerome Ropati tries; Ah Van goal, Stacey Jones drop goal
Halftime: 7-2
