Dragons 36 Melbourne 12

WHO needs Wendell Sailor? While most of the attention was focused on "Dellharbour" a two-hour drive away, St George Illawarra fans had another reason to cheer at ANZ Stadium last night.

Jamie Soward dismantled a spare-parts Melbourne side as the Dragons posted a comprehensive victory, running in six tries to two in front of 6881 hearty souls. Under any other circumstances, a win against the defending premiers would be something to get very excited about.

But this was not your average match.

The Storm, missing nine State of Origin players, blooded three debutants and were almost totally unrecognisable save for their halfback and a chrome-domed hooker.

Of the 17 largely unknown men who ran out in purple and blue jerseys, only nine had played more than 10 first-grade games.

And it appeared most Dragons fans opted for Shellharbour over Homebush Bay. The Storm tried hard but they were raw.

And Soward took full advantage.

The former Rooster had a hand in each of the Dragons' tries and finished with a personal tally of 16 points.

But the piece de resistance was a brilliant 71st-minute try which deserves to be shown ad nauseum for the remainder of the weekend.

Soward did his best Superman impression when he leapt for a Rangi Chase chip into the Storm in-goal and somehow managed to ground the ball with his outstretched fingertips. Brilliant.

The timing of the performance couldn't have been any better, either. Soward has been in and out of first grade but incoming coach Wayne Bennett saw enough promise to retain him for a further two seasons.

"It gives me two more years' security but it was all about doing what I could to help the team," Soward said.

"I put that on the backburner, I'll probably just sit back tomorrow and take it all in."

And the 23-year-old repaid the faith in the best possible way last night.

It was a good win and just reward after somehow failing to topple Parramatta last weekend.

But a truer indication of the Dragons' form will come against Manly - who belted the Cowboys last night - at Brookvale Oval on Friday.

"To see the scoreboard ticking over is good," Dragons coach Nathan Brown said.

Soward relished the extra space and lesser responsibility of playing at five-eighth instead of halfback.

"[I'm] loving it," he said. "I'm a bit wider and don't have to run the team around as much ... probably at the moment I see myself more as a six."

Storm halfback Cooper Cronk believed Melbourne had the depth to get through the Origin period without their stars.

"The basis we want to build our game on with the young guys is there," he said. "We don't want to be remarkable, you just have to do what's expected of you as a Storm player."

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 36 (J Nightingale 2 M Lett B Morris J Morris J Soward tries J Soward 6 goals) bt MELBOURNE 12 (W Chambers S Manu tries J Smith S Turner goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: P Haines. Crowd: 6,881.