NRL Saturday: Dolphins beat Titans at Robina to go top, Dragons ...
The Dolphins were too strong for the Titans at Robina as Wayne Bennett's charges sealed top spot on the NRL ladder.
The Dolphins were 10-0 down a dozen minutes in, but they hit back with a pair of tries to Jack Bostock to edge in front at half-time.
The visitors went on with it in the second half, scoring three tries to one to run out 30-14 winners.
Earlier, the Dragons showed great resilience to upset an out of sorts Manly in Wollongong in a 20-12 victory.
Read the match reports:
Look back at how the action unfolded in our blog.
That'll do us after another big afternoon/night of NRL action.
Hope your tips are looking better than mine cause I've got nothing right now.
See you on Easter Sunday for the Warriors-Knights and Sharks-Raiders games - remember, ABC will be blogging each and every NRL game this season.
Have a good one!
Hasler says it's a bit of a copy of last week. They're not putting halves together and not executing well and they gave up the chance to put the Dolphins to the sword in that first half.
"We're not good enough yet. We're still growing. Defensively we keep putting pressure on ourselves and our attack had better shape but it's inexcusable where we keep turning the ball over.
"We have to put two halves together.
"I can line up an excuses list this long, but what's the point?"
Wayne Bennett says he's really pleased with the Dolphins performance, especially with how they fought through the tough moments like Plath's sin-binning and those early tries.
Says Plath doesn't have a dirty bone in his body but they'll accept the punishment if the league thinks one is warranted.
He wraps Katoa's development but says he's still a long way from what he can be.
Bennett says the club knew what they were getting with Farnworth and Flegler and they purposefully kept those positions clear in year one because they knew what they had coming.
Here's all the action from Skilled Park.
Dolphins big name off-season signings Thomas Flegler and Herbie Farnworth have delivered crucial game-breaking plays to help deliver a 30-14 win over Gold Coast, sending them to the top of the NRL ladder.
The Titans, under new coach Des Hasler, are rock bottom and in a world of hurt.
The Dolphins trailed 10-0 early and lost lock Max Plath to the sin bin in the first half, but fired back with fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, captain Jesse Bromwich and halfback Isaiya Katoa playing crucial roles.
The game at Robina was in the balance in the 58th minute with the visitors leading 12-10.
Farnworth and Flegler, recruited from Brisbane, then delivered.
Centre Farnworth exchanged passes with speedy winger Jamayne Isaako down the right side to score his first try for the club.
Then raging prop Flegler stormed into the line to put Tabuai-Fidow over.
Gold Coast defended their line solidly early. They were rewarded when centre Brian Kelly put in a grubber kick up the other end and lock Jaimin Jolliffe raced through with vim to score his fourth career try in 72 games.
Titans halves Tanah Boyd and Kieran Foran combined to send winger Phil Sami over in the corner to make it 10-0 after 13 minutes.
The Dolphins dominated from that moment.
Titans wrecking ball David Fifita made his first appearance of the season off the bench on recovery from a pectoral tear, as did fullback Jayden Campbell from a knee injury.
Dolphins veteran skipper Bromwich was enormous and sent fellow prop Josh Kerr over under the sticks in the second half as 20-year-old half Katoa took control of the contest.
Gold Coast are winless so far this season and fell apart in the second half when the blowtorch was applied, while the Dolphins remain perfect and on six competition points.
AAP
An alright start for the Titans but the Dolphins recovered from the slow start to record a very professional and convincing victory. Katoa was excellent, as was Jesse Bromwich.
The Dolphins concede a try in possession and the Titans get a consolation try when they sweep it to their right and Sami, who has been their best tonight despite that ankle injury, gets a double. Boyd misses and it's 30-14 Dolphins.
Isaako traps Khan-Periera in-goal after another great kick from Katoa and three plays later Kerr is in under the posts after a nice short ball from Bromwich. This is officially a smash up, Isaako converts and it's 30-10 Dolphins.
Kelly loses the ball on his 40 and the Dolphins might be able to seal the game if they go in here and they do when Katoa hits Flegler short and he throws a great offload to Tabuai-Fidow who scores. Very nice stuff. Isaako converts and it's Dolphins 24-10.
Bromwich offloads around midfield to Nikorima, he goes quickly to Kaufusi who goes right to Farnworth. The Englishman draws in the winger and finds Isaako, he flies down the wing and Farnworth backs up to score his first try for his new club. Phins starting to take control now, they're offloading a lot and looking good doing it. Isaako converts and it's 18-10 Dolphins.
Bostock drops a bomb ten out from his own line and the Dolphins challenge the call. Brimson does have a hand around the ball and they say he's stripped it. Dolphins get one right there.
Fifita throws a beautiful inside ball to Campbell and he's in the clear, he takes on Tabuai-Fidow and tries to flick it to Khan-Periera but it goes to ground.
Titans kick off to start and it's out on the full....man, that's not what you want. Dolphins on the attack.
Manly's bad Wollongong Showground juju has come back to bite them, putting in an attacking horror show as St George Illawarra took a 20-12 victory.
On a dour Easter Saturday in Wollongong, Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan provided some of the few bright sparks with a silky double.
The win marked the Dragons' first victory since round one, with Sloan scoring either side of halftime with his speed and skill to ensure a 20-6 lead.
Manly threatened a brief fightback late following a Haumole Olakau'atu try, but fittingly any hope of that was ended when Lachlan Croker spilled the ball late.
The Sea Eagles have now won only one of their past 10 matches in Wollongong dating back to 2005, and appeared struck down by the venue again on Saturday evening.
They completed only 10 sets in the first half and made another eight errors after the break.
Tom Trbojevic in particular had a shocker, setting up the first try of the night but making a total of four errors.
St George Illawarra were at times just as error-riddled, only getting to their kick twice in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
Still, there was at least some resilience in defence for the hosts.
After conceding 84 points over the past fortnight, the Dragons at one stage defended their own line for 17 straight tackles without offering a gap.
Ultimately, it proved the difference.
Things had looked ominous from the Dragons early when Trbojevic ran the ball out of dummy-half and provided a low offload for Tolutau Koula to score.
But the Dragons were able to hit back through Jack Bird, when Tommy Talau couldn't handle a cross-field kick from Ben Hunt and the St George Illawarra centre pounced.
Sloan's try then put the Dragons ahead, sliding through Manly's right-edge defence on the back of a ball from Kyle Flanagan.
The fullback then crossed again after the break, running on to a Hunt banana kick after a bust from Tom Eisenhuth off a Jack de Belin offload.
Then it was the Dragons' defence that held on.
Mikaele Ravalawa tackled Jaxson Paulo into touch as the Manly winger looked set to score one try, and forced an error as the Sea Eagles flyer appeared in for another.
And while Olakau'atu surged his way over the line late, Manly succumbed to their Wollongong hoodoo again as another late error finished the match.
AAP
St George Illawarra fullback Tyrell Sloan has scored two tries to help the Dragons bounce back to winning ways with a 20-12 victory over a poor Manly side.
Manly's bad Wollongong record has come back to bite them, putting in an attacking horror show as St George Illawarra took a 20-12 victory.
On a dour Easter Saturday game, Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan provided some of the few bright sparks with a silky double.
The win marked the Dragons' first victory since round one, with Sloan scoring either side of half-time with his speed and skill to ensure a 20-6 lead.
Manly threatened a brief fightback late following a Haumole Olakau'atu try, but fittingly any hope of that was ended when Lachlan Croker spilled the ball late.
The Sea Eagles have now won only one of their past 10 matches in Wollongong dating back to 2005, and appeared struck down by the venue again on Saturday evening.
They completed only 10 sets in the first half and made another eight errors after the break.
Tom Trbojevic in particular had a shocker, setting up the first try of the night but making a total of four errors.
St George Illawarra were at times just as error-riddled, only getting to their kick twice in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
Still, there was at least some resilience in defence for the hosts.
After conceding 84 points over the past fortnight, the Dragons at one stage defended their own line for 17 straight tackles without offering a gap.
Ultimately, it proved the difference.
AAP
Marshall-King weights a kick really nicely, Boyd cleans it up but Averillo and Nicholls manage to drag him into the in-goal.
Then, on the final play of the half, the Dolphins go for that left shift again, Tabuai-Fidow throws a nice cut-out pass to Bostock and the young fella does really well to batter through a couple of cover defenders to put it down! Great finish, Dolphins can lead at halftime if Isaako kicks it and he does.
Bostock drops a wobbling bomb from Boyd and the Titans will get one more shot before halftime. Only they won't, because Foran has lost the ball in contact with Kaufusi. The Titans challenge it and lose as Plath comes back on. Dolphins will instead get the last shot of the half.
Marshall-King hits Nicholls short and he looks to be over for all money but Fifita's last-gasp tackle does enough to force the ball out at the last moment.
Fotuaika clips Bostock high and the Dolphins will go on the attack. They're handling the loss of Plath reasonably well.
Kaufusi nearly gets over and he has Nicholls in support, Katoa slides a kick through shortly thereafter but it beats Averillo to the dead ball line.
Sami takes a run in his own half and gets bent back awkwardly by Plath. Looks to be a hip drop, Plath could be in trouble here and...yup, he's on report and in the bin. Sami will strap up his leg and try to play on.
