Wests Tigers edged out St George 24-14 despite losing New Zealand international Benji Marshall who suffered a knee injury in the opening minutes.

Marshall who has missed a large part of the past two seasons due to shoulder dislocations is now expected to be out for the entire season after damaging his anterior cruciate ligament.

The loss of Marshall didn't really have any impact on the Tigers as they raced to an early 6-0 lead when Tigers young lock Liam Fulton scored with Brett Hodgson converting the extras.

St George hit back with a try awarded to captain Mark Gasnier in the 14th minute, the test centre failing to convert to leave the scores at 6-4.

The Dragons proved to be their own worst enemy giving away silly penalties and making crucial errors which included two knock ons from two separate kick restarts.

These mistakes proved costly as the Tigers took an 18-4 lead at half-time and left St George coach Nathan Brown wondering what was going on.

After the half-time break West Tigers showed their class again with a try to young teenager Tom Moltzen in the 50th minute giving them a lead of 24-4 and giving the Dragons little hope of winning the match.

Tries to Jamie Soward and unwanted Newcastle Knight Kirk Reynoldson installed hope to the Dragons camp but with ten minutes to go and so many errors the game slipped away from their reach.

Wests - 24
Tries - L Fulton, C Lawrence, R Farah, T Moltzen
Goals - Hodgson 4

St George - 16
Tries - M Gasnier, J Soward, K Reynoldson
Goals - J Soward 2

Att: 18,211