Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon predicts the best is yet to come from his new attacking spine of fullback Will Kennedy, five-eighth Matt Moylan, new halfback Nicho Hynes and hooker Blake Brailey.
The foursome's skills and anticipation went a long way to Cronulla securing their second win from the opening three rounds of the season on Thursday, with a convincing 36-12 victory over neighbours St George Illawarra in Wollongong.
Three of them are aged under 26, with Moylan the only 'veteran' at 30, while Moylan and Hynes had never played together until the former Storm utility arrived at the club in the pre-season.
"He's just a good footy player," Fitzgibbon said of Hynes, who set up a try, scored one of his own, made four tackle-busts, 17 runs and kicked 552 metres, alongside landing six goals.
"But I'm just happy with him and Matt and Will and Blake - everyone talks about the spine, right?" said Fitzgibbon.
"The thing that I'm most happy about is how they work hard, they train hard, they play hard. They get involved in the game.
"There are parts of their games we'll be able to improve on and work on and grow from.
"I don't think they're at where they are capable of being, but they're building nicely.
"I just love watching their effort. They just don't stop, they don't seem to get tired. That's what is the most pleasing thing about those guys."
Kennedy not only made 14 runs for 121 metres, including 89 kick-return metres, but he was able to slip his body underneath Dragons No.7 Ben Hunt to prevent a try in the 30th minute.
"He had a tremendous year last year. He was the Sharks' Porter-Gallen Medallist, which is for player of the year," Fitzgibbon said.
"The thing for Will, when we had a chat in the pre-season, was that he wasn't happy where he was at. He feels like he's got some more gears.
"He's in the same boat as the halves. He works hard and trains hard but he's not satisfied where he's at," Fitzgibbon said.
"And we've been quite demanding of Will in what we want for the team at the moment. There are parts we can still work on with him ... it's still really early."
Captain Dale Finucane, who joined Hynes in exiting the Storm to come to Cronulla this year, praised Fitzgibbon's contributions in his first year as a NRL head coach.
"Fitzy has brought in a bit of a different defensive system than the club has been used to in the past," Finucane said.
"So we're implementing new parts of the game that are new to the club, but we're developing quite well. It's still probably too early to say how we'll go in the back end of the year."
They will be out for three wins in a row when they host the Knights back at Pointsbet Stadium on Friday 1 April, while the Dragons have a tough assignment next, facing the Eels in Commbank Stadium at Parramatta.
