REMEMBER WHEN

IT started with a bang but finished in a whimper, Wendell Sailor’s NRL return ending in a fractured cheekbone and an easy 28-10 victory to the Dragons at WIN Stadium.

Playing his first game of top flight football following the expiration of a two-year drug ban the previous month, Sailor’s eagerly anticipated first run left Ashton Sims sprawled on the ground and fans salivating for more.

But as the Dragons raced away to a comfortable 20-6 lead courtesy of some enterprising play against a severely understrength Broncos side, Sailor was a virtual passenger, `Big Dell’ left sucking in the big ones on more than one occasion.

His last involvement came five minutes before the break, a stray David Stagg elbow catching him on the cheek and leaving the dual international eyeing the prospect of another enforced lay-off.

Given the form of the Dragons and the impending return of NSW stars Mark Gasnier and Matt Cooper, it’s unlikely that Sailor would be missed too much over the coming weeks, with even his gate appeal having lost some of its lustre with a disappointing crowd of 11,432 in Wollongong.

While the Broncos were rudderless without their six Origin stars and suspended centre Justin Hodges, St George Illawarra continued to build on the confidence generated by their now four-match winning streak by running in five tries to the visitors’ two.

The win put the Dragons, at least temporarily, into the top eight, and they had now beaten the sides sitting in the first five places on the ladder.