St George Illawarra has avenged last season's elimination final loss after outlasting Parramatta 18-12 in an entertaining encounter at Parramatta Stadium on Friday night.
Having shot to a 12-0 lead after a dominant opening quarter, the Dragons withstood a late fight back from the Jarryd Hayne inspired hosts in front of 18,293 raucous fans, to claim a valuable two points on the road.
Jamie Soward's kicking game proved the difference between the two sides as the diminutive pivot slotted three penalties and two conversions after both teams finished with two tries apiece.
The win was soured somewhat with Dragons hooker Nathan Fien suffering a suspected broken ankle, while the Eels, who lost centre Joel Reddy in the warm up with a leg injury, will be without the services of Shane Shackleton for several weeks with a high-grade hamstring tear.
The visitors dominated the early exchanges and were rewarded in the sixth minute when skipper Ben Hornby won the race to a well-weighted grubber from Fien to score the opening four-pointer of the season.
After a nervous start, the Eels finally got their hands on the ball in enemy territory but the well drilled Dragons held firm.
The Saints made the most of a Jarryd Hayne kick that sailed out on the full when Jeremy Smith crashed over in the 22nd minute from close range, with Fien again the provider after delivering the final pass.
Soward converted from adjacent to the posts to make it 12-0 the Dragons' way.
Parramatta hit back immediately when Jeff Robson left Ben Creagh in his wake and found Hayne in space who set sail for the tryline.
Hayne was denied by some desperate cover defence but the Dragons failed to regroup allowing Eric Grothe to cross untouched from the ensuing tackle.
Luke Burt's sideline conversion saw the Eels trim the deficit to 12-6 with 13 minutes left in the half.
The Dragons almost extended their lead through Fien on 35 minutes but the Eels defence again held firm as Fien was carried from the field leaving the Dragons to defend their 12-6 half-time lead with 16 men.
Shackleton's injury in the opening minute of the second half levelled up the numbers, but it was the Dragons who moved ahead on the scoreboard on the back of Soward penalty goals in the 51st and 59th minutes.
The Eels hit back immediately when Hayne delivered a bullet pass for Burt to tip-toe over in the corner, with the veteran winger slotting the conversion from out wide to cut the deficit to four at 16-12.
But the Dragons had the final say when Soward kicked his third penalty goal of the night with five minutes remaining to sneak home.
St George Illawarra Dragons 18
Tries: Hornby, Smith
Goals: Soward 5
Parramatta Eels 12
Tries: Grothe, Burt
Goals: Burt 2