It seemed like a case of new year, same old story for St George Illawarra in their NRL season opener against the Warriors on the Sunshine Coast.
Coach Anthony Griffin would have been forgiven for experiencing deja vu as the Dragons let a stunning start slip to trail the Shaun Johnson-inspired Warriors 16-14 early in the second half on Saturday night.
It was reminiscent of a frustrating 2021 season in which the Dragons hit the ground running, only to watch their finals hopes go up in smoke with eight straight losses after a now infamous team BBQ.
But Griffin said a frustrating 2021 was now a distant memory for a new-look Dragons outfit after they held on for a stirring 28-16 win, sparked by hulking winger Mikaele Ravalawa's hat-trick.
"Last year is last year, it is a different group," he said.
"It feels different. They haven't played a lot of footy together and you saw that in patches (on Saturday).
"It will take us a while to get into a real groove but I was just really happy with the way we knuckled down once we got behind."
Even the poker-faced Griffin had plenty of reasons to smile on Saturday night.
Teenage fullback Tyrell Sloan showed touches of class, setting up two early tries before his game-breaking bust ahead of Moses Mbye's 74th minute match-sealing try.
Griffin and Dragons skipper Ben Hunt warned the 19-year-old Sloan - who has scored six tries in his first six games - was just getting started.
"He has a lot more to do, a lot of things to work on. But he's going okay," Griffin deadpanned.
Playmaker Hunt added: "The nicest thing for me is that he kept getting himself in the right position.
"As a spine we have a couple of young fellas (including 19-year-old halves partner Talatau Amone) in there so we have to keep developing and keep getting better."
Mbye impressed off the bench along with five other Dragons recruits making their official club debut on Saturday - ex-Kangaroo Aaron Woods, Queensland forwards Jaydn Su'A and Francis Molo, Moses Suli and Jack Gosiewski.
Overall it wasn't a bad effort for a Dragons team without the likes of Tariq Sims (calf), Jayden Sullivan (hamstring), Josh McGuire, Tyrell Fuimaono (both suspension) and George Burgess.
Not surprisingly, the Dragons weren't getting ahead of themselves.
"I am excited but we still have a lot to work on," Hunt said.
"There are a lot new faces in the team and a lot of things have changed so we need to keep getting better.
"We switched off (against Warriors). We need to tidy that up and keep improving."
The Dragons will monitor prop Woods who came off with a second-half hamstring niggle.
