The St George Illawarra Dragons have responded perfectly to the harsh criticism leveled at them following last week's lacklustre opening round performance with a morale-boosting 30-12 drubbing of the Gold Coast Titans at a wet WIN Stadium on Monday night.
The maligned Dragons were woeful against the Tigers in Round 1, re-igniting calls for coach Nathan Brown's head and forcing Brown himself to publicly criticise his own players, most notably experienced prop Jason Ryles, who started this match from the bench.
But the troops rallied against quality opposition to score three tries in a 10-minute period just after half-time to help turn a 6-all scoreline into the impressive 18-point win.
Best for the Dragons were halves Rangi Chase and Jamie Soward, obviously buoyed by Brown's stunning pre-game admission that the duo would remain the club's halves combination regardless of form.
The key to the Dragons' win was their ball handling in the atrocious conditions, making just seven errors compared to the Titans' 13.
On the back of a massive share of possession in the opening stages, the Dragons eventually struck pay dirt in the 11th minute courtesy of a strong individual effort from Test centre Matt Cooper, who crashed between two defenders to plant the ball down in the left corner.
Skipper Mark Gasnier converted from the sideline to give the home side a 6-0 lead.
Gasnier looked to be over for a try of his own three minutes later, but a flat-looking pass from Chase in the lead-up was called forward by referee Gavin Badger much to the dismay of the 10,521 pro-Dragons crowd.
The Titans defied the flow of possession in the 25th minute to post their first try - a well executed effort involving skipper Scott Prince, fullback Preston Campbell and forward Anthony Laffranchi who all provided slick passes to help tough hooker Nathan Friend crash over for the first try of his 60-game NRL career.
Prince landed the easy conversion to level the scores at 6-all as the rain began to tumble.
The deadlock remained until just half-time when a towering Soward bomb was allowed to bounce by three stationary Titans players who watched the ball drop forward for winger Jason Nightingale to steal a gift six-points following Soward's successful wide-range conversion.
Just three minutes later Chase pumped a perfectly-weighted grubber through the fast-moving Titans' defensive line for Gasnier to follow through for the easiest of tries.
Soward's second conversion from a tough angle handed the hosts a commanding 18-6 lead after 47 minutes.
Chase displayed some dazzling footwork in the slippery conditions to bag a 54th minute solo try from close-range to virtually seal the match for his side, Soward converting to confirm an 18-point buffer for the locals.
The Titans scored on the hour when Prince grubbered through for second-rower Mark Minichiello to score, but the Dragons soon regained the ascendancy via a penalty goal to Soward in the 65th minute and Cooper's second try in the 75th.
The result in Wollongong must be worrying for Titans coach John Cartwright who watched his side win just two matches on the road last season, despite performing admirably at home.
Dragons 30
Tries: Cooper 2, Nightingale, Gasnier, Chase
Conversions: Soward 3, Gasnier
Penalty goals: Soward
Titans 12
Tries: Friend, Minichiello
Conversions: Prince 2
Sportal's NRL Player of the Year:
3 - Rangi Chase (Dragons)
2 - Jamie Soward (Dragons)
1 - Matt Cooper (Dragons)