Melbourne superstar Greg Inglis used to sidestep around players on his way to the tryline.

Now he runs straight over the top of them, and he kicks winning field goals.

Inglis slotted the winning goal with 1min 37sec left on the clock in the first period of extra time to give his side a 17-16 victory over St George Illawarra in their opening round NRL clash at Olympic Park.

The Dragons looked dead and buried with less than four minutes remaining in the match, trailing by six.

But one of new coach Wayne Bennett's old favourites, Wendell Sailor, got them back into the game with a 50m break before off-loading to centre Matt Cooper who raced to the tryline.

Five-eighth Jamie Soward then converted to lock up the scoreboard 16-16.

Inglis' field goal, after three earlier attempts by the teams, topped off a superb night for the 22-year-old.

It also gave the NRL something to cheer about after Inglis replaced Manly's Brett Stewart, who has been charged with sexual assault, as the face of the game in its new TV advertisement.

Inglis has stacked on six kilograms in the off-season to now weigh in at an imposing 107kg, without surrendering any of his pace or skills and that was all apparent as he scored the first try of the 2009 season in the 15th minute.

He took a Cooper Cronk pass 10 metres out from the tryline and charged head, tossing aside Dragons five-eighth Jamie Soward like a rag-doll and then running over the remaining defence to score and give his side a 4-2 lead.

Coach Craig Bellamy said it was typical Inglis, but was otherwise disappointed with his team's attack.

After a try by Dragons halfback Ben Hornby helped the visitors take an 8-4 lead to the sheds, Bellamy's side got back ahead through tries by Billy Slater, who otherwise had a miserable night, and Cooper Cronk.

"I thought our attack in the first half was poor but we picked it up in the second half," Bellamy said.

"But I thought our defence did really well, it was quite effective."

Playing for the first time under former Brisbane coach Bennett, St George Illawarra looked the sharper of the two sides in the first half.

They had their chances but too often the final pass or kick went astray.

Never a fan of the golden point, Bennett was disappointed to miss out on a share of the competition points.

But he was impressed by the Dragons' courage.

"I was very happy with the effort ... the way they gutsed the game out," Bennett said.

"They stayed in there. It's really hard to coach those qualities so it's great to see the team do that."

Bennett predicted his team would improve.

"We can take confidence out of tonight we can compete with the top teams," he said.

"We're going to get better than tonight."

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