Disappointed Dragons fall one short again

An absolutely gutted St George-Illawarra Dragons outfit has fallen one match short of the Grand Final for the second consecutive year after being edged out by the Melbourne Storm 24-10 at Telstra Stadium tonight.

Trying their hearts out, the Red V just wasn't able to execute to the best of their abilities when it mattered the most. Adding to the Dragons torture was being held up short or over the line on two occasions in crunch stages of the contest.

The Dragons dodged a bullet early after Melbourne strike weapon Greg Inglis was disallowed a try after only four minutes. Inglis was ruled to have not grounded the ball properly after plucking a Cooper Cronk cross field bomb from the air.

Aaron Gorrell came agonisingly close after 11 minutes, but was ruled to have come inches short of the try line by video referees Chris Ward and Phil Cooley.

A short time later, the Storm registered their first points through Inglis. From the scrum base, two second man plays were engineered, culminating with Inglis breaking the outstretched arms of Mark Gasnier to score. Cameron Smith converted for 6-0.

The Dragons continued to come close to scoring. Wes Naiqama dived over in the corner after 24 minutes, but the final pass from Matt Cooper was ruled to have gone forward by referee Steve Clark.

Cooper made up for the pass in his sides next set of six, crossing out wide after rolling onto a classic Ashton Sims offload. Gorrell's conversion, 12 metres in from touch, levelled the scores at six-all.

Sadly, the Dragons momentum was short lived after Matt King put Melbourne back in front just two minutes later. The International outside back flew high to grab a Cronk cross field bomb AFL style to score. Smith's conversion enabled Melbourne to take a six-point lead into half time.

Although no points were scored in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, the atmosphere and the desperation was building.

With 19 minutes on the clock a controversial scrum feed was awarded to the Storm just ten metres out from the Dragons line. Referee Clark had ruled that Ben Creagh had knocked down a loose Melbourne pass, where as TV replays suggested that the Storm player passed the ball forward into Creagh.

In a well worked scrum move, King stood up Gasnier one on one and put his winger Steve Turner away in the corner. Smith nailed the extras from the sideline to extend his sides advantage to 12.

With close to 35,000 Dragons fans on the edges of their seats, their side almost gave them a reason to cheer when Naiqama looked to have scored with 11 minutes remaining. After numerous replays, the winger was ruled to have been miraculously held up by Inglis. The very next tackle however, the Dragons were in.

Quick hands to Gasnier on the right allowed the International centre to get one back on his opposite number, standing up King and offloading to Brett Morris who dived over in the corner.

Mathew Head failed with his conversion attempt, leaving the Dragons behind by eight with ten minutes remaining.

More Dragons attacking raids followed in the ensuing sets, but the Storms scramble defence held firm.

The death knell officially sounded with three minutes to go when Antonio Kaufusi cruised through some tired Dragons tackle attempts to wrap up the contest.

A devastated coach Nathan Brown was left to rue the missed opportunities after the match.

“We just didn't execute our plays too well tonight. It took us about 50-55 minutes before we could execute something decent out there and it hurt us in the end,” said Brown.

With five first grade stars confirmed to be leaving the club next season, emotions ran high after the contest. No one more saddened at the result than departing Captain Trent Barrett who struggled for words when interviewed at the post match conference.

The five-eighth, England bound next season after ten years in red and white, did all he could on the field to get his side home, but couldn't hide his disappointment after the game.

“I'm very proud to be captain of this side. It would have been real nice to play next week, but it's not to be,” said Barrett.

Along with their captain, ‘The Bull' Luke Bailey, Clint Greenshields, Matt Bickerstaff and Shaun Timmins will all be moving on.

Brown summed up his feelings after the match with a quote from his wife.

"She told me after last year that, Nathan, you love football so much, but sometimes football doesn't love you back.”

In season 2006, the Dragons love of football would be unrequited once more.

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