2011 St. George Illawarra Dragons season

Template:NRL Team Season The 2011 St. George Illawarra Dragons season is the 13th in the joint venture club's history. They are competing in the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership as reigning champions, and are coached by Wayne Bennett and captained by Ben Hornby.

In the pre-season the Dragons won their annual Charity Shield match against South Sydney before travelling to take on reigning Super League champions, Wigan Warriors.

Pre Season

The Dragons won all three of their pre-season games. This included victory in the 2011 World Club Challenge, giving them the title of best club rugby league team in the world.

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Score	Attendance	Report
13 February	Charity Shield	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	32 – 10	19,267	[1]
18 February	Mercury Challenge	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	28 – 12	6,174	[2]
27 February	2011 World Club Challenge	Wigan Warriors	DW Stadium, Wigan	21 – 15	24,268	[3]
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw

Regular Season

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Score	Attendance	Report
12 March	1	Gold Coast Titans	Skilled Park, Gold Coast	25 – 16	21,709	[4]
21 March	2	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Toyota Stadium, Cronulla	10 – 16	12,183	[5]
27 March	3	New Zealand Warriors	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	25 – 12	11,651	[6]
3 April	4	Newcastle Knights	Ausgrid Stadium, Newcastle	20 – 18	20,986	[7]
10 April	5	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	25 – 6	31,122	[8]
18 April	6	South Sydney Rabbitohs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	16 – 0	22,771	[9]
25 April	7	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	24 – 10	34,976	[10]
1 May	8	Parramatta Eels	WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah	30 – 0	19,319	[11]
8 May	9	North Queensland Cowboys	WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah	22 – 8	13,056	[12]
13 May	10	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	ANZ Stadium, Sydney	15 – 10	34,322	[13]
	11
29 May	12	Wests Tigers	WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah	24 – 18	19,892	[14]
3 June	13	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta
10 June	14	Gold Coast Titans	WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah
17 June	15	Brisbane Broncos	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
27 June	16	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	WIN Stadium, Wollongong
3 July	17	Newcastle Knights	WIN Stadium, Wollongong
	18
18 July	19	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	WIN Jubilee Oval, Kogarah
25 July	20	Canberra Raiders	Canberra Stadium, Canberra
29 July - 1 August	21	South Sydney Rabbitohs	WIN Stadium, Wollongong
5 - 8 August	22	Wests Tigers	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
12 - 15 August	23	Sydney Roosters	WIN Stadium, Wollongong
19 - 22 August	24	Melbourne Storm	AAMI Park, Melbourne
26 - 29 August	25	New Zealand Warriors	WIN Stadium, Wollongong
2 - 5 September	26	Penrith Panthers	WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw   Bye

Ladder

2011 NRL Telstra Premiership
Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne Storm	24	19	0	5	2	521	308	213	42
2	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (P)	24	18	0	6	2	539	331	208	40
3	Brisbane Broncos	24	18	0	6	2	511	372	139	40
4	Wests Tigers	24	15	0	9	2	519	430	89	34
5	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	14	1	9	2	483	341	142	33
6	New Zealand Warriors	24	14	0	10	2	504	393	111	32
7	North Queensland Cowboys	24	14	0	10	2	532	480	52	32
8	Newcastle Knights	24	12	0	12	2	478	443	35	28
9	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	12	0	12	2	449	489	-40	28
10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	11	0	13	2	531	562	-31	26
11	Sydney Roosters	24	10	0	14	2	417	500	-83	24
12	Penrith Panthers	24	9	0	15	2	430	517	-87	22
13	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	7	0	17	2	428	557	-129	18
14	Parramatta Eels	24	6	1	17	2	385	538	-153	17
15	Canberra Raiders	24	6	0	18	2	423	623	-200	16
16	Gold Coast Titans	24	6	0	18	2	363	629	-266	16

Squad

No. Position Player 1 Darius Boyd – FB 2 Brett Morris – WG 3 Matt Cooper – CE 4 Mark Gasnier – CE 5 Jason Nightingale – WG 6 Jamie Soward – FE (GK) 7 Ben Hornby – HB 8 Dan Hunt – PR 9 Nathan Fien – HK 10 Michael Weyman – PR 11 Beau Scott – SR 12 Ben Creagh – SR 13 Dean Young – LK (VC)

No. Position Player Matt Prior – SR Trent Merrin – PR Jon Green – PR Kyle Stanley – FE Michael Greenfield – PR Adam Cuthbertson – PR Peni Tagive – WG Cameron King – HK Nick Emmett – CE Jake Marketo – SR David Gower – PR Bronx Goodwin – FB Daniel Penese – SR

*VC - Vice Captain *GK - Goal Kicker

Source = Dragon's 2011 Squad

Transfers

Gains

Player	Gained From
Adam Cuthbertson	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Daniel Penese	Penrith Panthers
David Gower	Wests Tigers

Losses

Player	Lost To
Neville Costigan	Newcastle Knights
Jeremy Smith	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Jarrod Saffy	Melbourne Rebels
Ricky Thorby	North Queensland Cowboys
Michael Lett	Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs
Beau Henry	Newcastle Knights
Kalifa Fai-Fai Loa	North Queensland Cowboys
Junior Paulo	Penrith Panthers
Luke Priddis	Retirement