IT STARTED with a bang but finished in a whimper, Wendell Sailor's National Rugby League return ending in a fractured cheekbone and an easy 28-10 victory to the Dragons over Brisbane at WIN Stadium last night.

Playing his first game of top-flight football following the expiration of a two-year drug ban last month, Sailor's eagerly anticipated first run left Ashton Sims sprawled on the ground and fans salivating for more.

But as the Dragons raced away to a comfortable 20-6 lead courtesy of some enterprising play against a severely understrength Broncos side, Sailor was a virtual passenger.

His last involvement came five minutes before the break, a stray David Stagg elbow catching him flush on the cheek, leaving him with the prospect of another enforced lay-off.

Given the form of the Dragons and the impending return of NSW stars Mark Gasnier and Matt Cooper, it's unlikely he will be missed too much over the coming weeks.

The Dragons struggled after the break, with Sailor's injury forcing a massive reshuffle, and the Broncos threatened the unlikely when Tonie Carroll was dubiously awarded a benefit of the doubt four-pointer, with the grounding looking more than a touch suspicious.

But Jason Nightingale put to bed any thoughts of a recovery with a double inside the final quarter to confirm victory and extend his lead at the top of the try-scorers' list with 12.

■The Melbourne Storm became the first club in the history of the state-of-origin series to dominate the make-up of both combatants for a single game after winger Steve Turner's place in the NSW team was confirmed for Wednesday's clash against Queensland.

The Storm now has more players than any other NRL team in both origin sides, with six preparing to play for the Maroons (Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Michael Crocker, Greg Inglis, Israel Folau and Dallas Johnson) and four for the Blues (Brett White, Anthony Quinn, Ryan Hoffman and Turner), plus coach Craig Bellamy.

Brisbane has the next best representation for Queensland with five — although skipper Darren Lockyer is in doubt because of his knee injury — and for NSW, the next best contributors are Newcastle and Sydney Roosters with three.

While Brisbane holds the record for the most players in a single game, with 11 representatives (six times), no club has provided the bulk of both teams at the same time until now, although Manly (1982 and 1987) and Canberra (1990) came close.

Storm chief executive Brian Waldron said the selections were a success story for the premier.

"I think the most impressive thing from our point of view is that probably with the exception of Michael Crocker, all the other players have come through our development program …" Waldron said.

"It shows you that we know how to identify the talent and how to nurture it.

"It's probably also a message for the industry that you don't necessarily need a fertile home environment to produce good talent if your identification's right," he said.

AAP with STATHI PAXINOS