'She's our No.7 for a reason': Fuimaono backs Reh to lead Rev V attack

Star playmaker Taliah Fuimaono is willing to take a backseat to young gun Kasey Reh as the new-look Dragons continue to forge combinations and build confidence.

The Dragons came away with their first win of the season on Sunday against the Paramatta Eels and Fuimaono couldn’t help but praise Reh on her efforts in the pre-season and the opening rounds of the season.

"She's outstanding. She's so mature for her age, she has got her head switched on. She is a real leader without even having to say too many words,” Fuimaono said.

“I'm really proud of how she's been directing the girls. She's been given the No.7 jersey for a reason and we all back her.”

After leaving St George Illawarra to join the Titans for three seasons, Fuimaono is among a group of star players returning to the club under the leadership of Dragons GM of Female Football Sam Bremner and head coach Nathan Cross.

The former Jillaroos five-eighth, who is expected to play for Samoa at this year’s World Cup, said she had taken on a supporting role to Reh to enable the 20 year-old to control the team’s attack as effectively as possible.

"I guess my job is to just to try and make her role as easy as possible. She's calling the shots for us at the moment, and I'm just sort of making sure everyone's ready for it on the back of that,” Fuimaono said.

Reh polled four Dally M votes in the 22-8 defeat of Parramatta, during which she ran 115m with the ball, produced a line break and a try assist, kicked for 159m and forced a goal-line drop out, while making 27 tackles.

Star fullback Teagan Berry also received four votes, while captain Brooke Anderson was awarded one vote for her performance at hooker, which included two line-break assists – one of which led to Berry’s fifth minute try - and a try assist for prop Ruby Jean Kennard-Ellis.

"Brooke is a competitor, she is our captain for a reason. She is very competitive,” Fuimaono said.

“It was good to see her with her hands on the ball more, it is probably not her preferred position, but she got chucked in there and obviously did more than her job.”

Cross also applauded his captain as well as another of the team’s more experienced players, Hannah Southwell, who he said had played her best game since rejoining the club last year.

"Brooke and Hannah are so important because they are experienced, I believe they are winners and when our other girls see the way they approach the game and their mentality, they feed off that," Cross said.

Combining in the middle, Southwell and Anderson are enjoying putting in the hard yards and leading by example.

"Playing alongside Hannah, it is a good feeling. She is exactly like me, we've got a screw loose, so you need those girls in the middle who are willing to do all the work and put in the effort,” said Anderson.

After a disappointing 20-4 loss to the Raiders in the opening round, the Dragons had a simple plan to complete their first five sets against the Eels and will be looking to do the same in Sunday’s game against Newcastle.

"We completed at 94% in the first half, so Crossy was pretty stoked with that, and that's why we ended up with the points that we did,” said Fuimaono.

The Dragons forwards pressured Parramatta halfback Rachael Pearson to limit her time on the ball, a tactic they will be looking to repeat against Knights playmaker Kirra Dibb.

"We can't be letting her run too much with the ball in her hands, so that's the big job for our middles again, applying a bit of inside pressure on them” Fuimaono said.

With their next three matches away from home, Fuimaono said the Dragons want to carry the momentum into Sunday’s road trip to Newcastle as they aim to bring home another two points.

"I think it will instill a little bit of belief,” she said. “We do have quite a young team ... so I think it was really, really good to get a bit of confidence, heading into these next few long weeks. We are definitely going to need that heading forward."