He may have nabbed a first-half hat-trick but St George Illawarra Dragons veteran Jason Nightingale was even more pleased with the way the Dragons defended in their win over Wests Tigers.

“We made the most of our opportunities and managed to get some really good ball in that first half,” he said.

“It led to a few tries and I’m very excited, I love scoring tries as every player let alone wingers do so very excited to get a first half hat trick and capitalise on some of the opportunities that we had.

“The most pleasing thing out of that whole game was the fact that we defended really well then when we did get down their end through building pressure we were able to capitalise most times.

“We stuck to our defensive patterns and managed to build pressure through that and then get across the line when we did find those opportunities. Some really good plays to open up some space for myself and ‘Laf’ (Tim Lafai).”

The Dragons are now 4-1 to start the year.