‘Unacceptable and embarrassing’: Benji fumes at Tigers as Lomax obliterates record

Zac Lomax was placed on report for a sickening collision with Tigers rookie Solomon Alaimalo on a night where he obliterated a club record as the Dragons condemned Benji Marshall’s wooden spoon favourites to a ninth straight loss on Friday night.

Lomax, who was one of NSW’s best in the State of Origin series opener on Wednesday night, will face a nervous wait for the match review committee’s findings on Saturday morning after being involved in a spectacular collision with Alaimalo.

The St George Illawarra star chased through a Ben Hunt bomb and as he leapt to contest it, collected a soaring Alaimalo, who crashed spectacularly to the turf and was taken from the field with concussion.

Lomax was put on report by Chris Butler for dangerous contact in the only sour note on a night which yielded 32 individual points – three tries and 10 goals without a miss – as a second-half annihilation led the Dragons to a 56-14 victory in Wollongong, which Marshall described as “embarrassing”.

It’s the most points a St George Illawarra player has scored in a single match, surpassing the previous record of 22 he shared with Amos Roberts, Jamie Soward and Gareth Widdop.

“It’s a cool little accolade to look at think that’s not too bad,” Lomax said. “But the two points is the main thing and that’s a good building block for us.”

Asked about the Alaimaolo collision, he added: “No, no. I wasn’t watching it, but I was going for the ball.”

The result propelled St George Illawarra into the top eight – albeit temporarily with other teams to play this weekend – and it’s the latest in a season they’ve been in a finals spot since the Paul Vaughan-hosted barbecue during the COVID-interrupted 2021 season.

Despite holding a 14-12 lead at the break, the Tigers capitulated after half-time for their biggest loss of the season, compounded by Bud Sullivan’s sin-binning which prompted 14 points while he was off the field. The Dragons scored again just moments after Sullivan returned to the field.

Earlier, ex-Dragon Sullivan cheekily pointed to the WIN Stadium turf to signify it was his home during a try celebration, having also set up two others, including one for ex-St George Illawarra NSW Cup player of the year Alex Lobb.

Ex-Tiger Luciano Leilua also scored two tries alongside winger Mat Feagai as the Dragons scored seven unanswered tries and 44 points after the break.

The result infuriated Marshall, whose side is hurtling towards a third straight wooden spoon.

“Very disappointing,” Marshall said. “We seem to say the same thing every week, which is unfortunate. We gave ourselves every opportunity. Had a week off, freshened up. We start with a lot of energy, 14-12 at half-time.

“To have 20 per cent of the ball and have as many errors as what we did [in the second half] – schoolboy errors, to be honest – [is] unacceptable.

“And our discipline … It is just hurting us. We find someone to get sin-binned every week. Give away silly penalties, we lose our head and unfortunately, we’re in a position where we can’t do that to ourselves. And we did.

“I’ll say it again, if the actions don’t change, then the players have to change. It’s unacceptable.”

Despite competing hard in a majority of matches this year, the under-manned Tigers plunged to another demoralising defeat and they will be anchored to the bottom of the NRL ladder outright if South Sydney beat Gold Coast on Saturday.

Dragons coach Shane Flanagan lashed a bunker decision to deny son Kyle a try moments before half-time due to a double movement as “crazy”, but it was inconsequential to the final result.