IT was far from convincing, but St George Illawarra ushered in the Dean Young era with a 28-24 victory over a strife-torn Broncos on Friday night.
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It was enough to give Young his first win as a head coach, but it won't answer any of the questions people had heading into the match.
Answers may come over the next fortnight that'll see them face the Titans and Cowboys but, for now, the jury remains out.
Certainly the Dragons, featuring Shellharbour's Euan Aitken and Trent Merrin, Albion Park-Oak Flats' Adam Clune and Gerringong's Korbin Sims, have some work to do to meet their new coach's standards in terms of discipline and consistency, but their competitiveness was enough to get them over the line.
Leading 12-nil after seven minutes, it looked like it could be a case of Dragons by how much before the spirited Broncos fought back into the contest.
They never went away but the Dragons never really surrendered control of the match despite the Broncos drawing level on two occasions.
It made it two wins in a row but Young admitted post-match that his side has a significant way to go to meet fresh standards.
"It's the third time this year where we've competed for the full 80 minutes and we had to to get the two points," Young said.
"There weren't a lot of errors in the game, there was a lot of fatigue in the game, and I think the boys showed some real grit to get the job done.
"It was far from a perfect performance, it was a bit of a lethargic performance from us to be fair, but I asked them to back up their want to compete for each other for a full 80 minutes and they did that.
"I touched on it earlier in the week, I want to know what we're going to get from the Dragons each week. At the moment our fans, everyone, we do not know what we're getting from this team. That's the truth of it.
"We changed a couple of things last week and really bought into it and we've put two 80-minute performances together in a row. That's a step in the right direction but we are a long, long way off the top sides.
"They're aware of that, I've told them that, and all we can do is keep preparing well and keep improving."
Josh Kerr barged across just three minutes in, with Zac Lomax converting for a 6-mil lead. Corey Norman crossed just two minutes later for a 12-0 lead via Lomax's conversion.
The Broncos finally hit back through Richie Kennar, finishing off a sweeping move with Darius Boyd throwing the final pass. Kotoni Staggs nailed the conversion from the sideline to cut the margin back to six.
The hosts levelled up five minutes through Corey Paix, who barged over from dummy-half next to the posts, giving Staggs an easy shot at the extras to go to 12 apiece.
Lomax nailed a 29th minute penalty goal after Euan Aitken was denied by the bunker, with Jamil Hopoate felling Cam McInnes off the ball in the lead-up.
It gave the visitors a 14-12 lead 11 minutes before the break, which was quickly extended when Mikaele Ravalawa finished off a beautiful lofted ball from Dufty to score in the corner.
Staggs did it all himself on an incredible 75-metre solo run to the line four minutes into the second half, converting his own try to level the scores at 18-all.
Lomax made light work of a 52nd minute penalty goal, and even lighter of the final pass and sideline conversion of Ravalawa's second try five minutes later for a 26-18 lead.
It looked like it'd be enough before Tom Dearden shrugged off McInnes and Hunt to cross for a try that got his side back within two with 11 minutes to play.
Jacob Host looked to have sealed the deal with four minutes to play before the bunker found a knock on from Adam Clune in the lead-up.
It kept the hosts in it but it remained as close as they got, with the Dragons tackling their way to the win that was sealed with Lomax's final-minute penalty goal.
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
