lllawarra joined the competition in 1982 and, despite losing our very first game against the Steelers, we had little trouble with them. When they merged with St George at the end of 1998 to form the St George lllawarra Dragons, our very first match against the new club, in March 1999, was played on the hallowed turf of the Sydney Cricket Ground.
We were behind 18-8 at halftime but roared home with tries to centre Jason Nicol, lock Chris Caruana and our fullback that day, a local boy named Craig Wing. A field goal by halfback Darrell "Tricky" Trindall secured a 25-24 win.
Trindall scored two tries in the first half, set up another for centre Jason Nicol and landed a left-footed field goal to put the match beyond the Dragons’ reach. St George Illawarra led 18-8 at halftime, but collapsed alarmingly in humid conditions, committing a mountain of second-half handling errors and missed tackles.
