With his team up 24-22 in the dying minutes on Sunday, debutant Jayden Sullivan, who is a South Coast Black Cockatoo, took on the line and put in a chip kick, with the ball bouncing fortuitously into the arms of Tyson Frizell to sink the depleted Storm.

And while the try was jubilantly celebrated by fans at Jubilee Oval and back home, the moment was just a blur for the man at the centre of it.

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"I can't really remember it to be honest," Sullivan told Australian Community Media afterwards.

"I just played footy I guess, and I was lucky that the bounce went to 'Friz'. It worked in the end."

The try assist capped a solid first outing for the teenager at five-eighth, taking on the line numerous times and not being afraid to kick.

Sullivan, 18, said he had a lot of improvement in him, but his job was made easier by playing alongside Albion Park-Oak Flats' Adam Clune in the halves.

"'Cluney' helped me a lot, he's just so smart with some of the stuff he was saying. All of us halves have been a tight group, 'Normy' and 'Dozer' [Ben Hunt] too," he said.

"Full credit to the boys, we all dug deep and played it to the 80^th minute which is what 'Deano' [Young] wanted. We stuck with it, and didn't really go away from what we were doing. We knew that the game plan would work for us that Deano had been drilling into us all week. He just let us play footy and we got the win."

"It was definitely very fast out there, I didn't think it was going to be that fast. And I thought I was fit, but obviously I'm going to need to be fitter. There's a big pre season ahead with the new coach coming and I'm really excited to rip into 2021."

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For interim coach Dean Young, Sunday's win was the perfect way to bid farewell to the Dragons as he sets sail to North Queensland.

But Young said Sullivan's debut was one of many reasons why red v fans should remain excited about the future.

"I think everyone can see how brave he is. He takes the line on and puts his little body in front of the big boys all night long," Young said.

"But he's got a lot to work on. His kicking game I think got a bit tired towards the end of the game. But I think that's a great learning curve because I'm sure he's dreamed of playing in the NRL since he was a little boy, and he's finally got the opportunity and realised how hard it is. And that's against a side with a lot of first graders out of it. So it's a great step for him to say 'OK, this pre season I need to attack it because I want to be an NRL player and I've got a lot to learn from'. He'll be OK though, he's a good kid.

"It was nice to see Eddie Blacker and Jayden Sullivan making their debuts. It was great for those kids to start out with a win."

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Sullivan was one of several South Coast juniors to play on Sunday.

In fact, St George Illawarra's whole backline against the Storm consisted of local talent.

"I think that's what this club needs to be built on moving forward," Young said.

"The times we've been successful, the team has been built on local juniors coming through who really care about the club. You also need to be really smart with your recruitment choices and fill in the missing pieces. We've got a good group of players coming through who are young, inexperienced and really eager. The fans have just got to be a little patient with them because they're going to take time, but we've got some talent there."

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