After winning the all-important Asian Championships in 2004, but losing every other tour game that year, the Dragons were intent to set the record straight and prove the team were not one-hit wonders. 

First game was in January - a combined rules game in Hong Kong against the Asian Gaelic All Stars. The game was a curtain raiser to a Gaelic match between the 2003 and 2004 Gaelic All Stars (nobody was able to properly explain to me what happened to a player who had qualified for both teams....). A crowd of 2,500, including Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, witnessed the Dragons take a three point win - 37 to 34. 

First tour was to Shanghai in April to compete in a three team cup with the Shanghai Tigers and Malaysian Warriors. The first game was against Malaysia and represented the President Farmer's 50th, in a remarkable recuperative display just 12 weeks after breaking his ankle. An easy win for the Dragons ensued. Next we played Shanghai for the cup as Shanghai had earlier beaten Malaysia. The Dragons also beat Shanghai to walk away with the cup. Hamish Stuart walked away with 95% of the votes for player of the tournament. 

Next up was a game against Singapore in Hong Kong in May. Singapore bought a strong squad, and only trailed by a goal at half time against a strong Dragons outfit. However, the Dragons raced away with the game in the second half and went on to win convincingly. Thanks to media tycoon Craig 'Bogan' Francis, the Dragons made the back page of the SCMP. 

The second tour sent the Dragons to Bangkok for the annual Hamilton-Reddell cup game. The Dragons were light on for numbers, but not talent, and in somewhat of a surprise (the score, not the win), the Dragons completely flogged the Tigers to win by 10 goals. 

After proving the critics wrong, and that the Dragons could win outside the Asian Champs, the Dragons went to Manila for the 2005 Champs as favourites. However, the dream was shattered early in the day due to the Bali Geckos, fronting up with three WAFL players in their squad, inflicting a one point defeat to the Dragons. Good wins over Thailand and Manila followed, and a narrow loss to eventual premier Singapore in the match of the day, but the disappointment was clear to all at Folder Park as the Dragons finished in fourth place on the day out of the nine competing teams. Graeme Rigg still managed to take overall player honours with the player of the tournament award, and Nathan Byrne and Matt Stivala made the team of the tournament.


August 2005
  Bangkok tour 6-08-2005 Thailand 3-6-24 Read Match Report >
    Hong Kong 12-7-79

May 2005
  Singapore on tour 28-05-2005 Hong Kong 11-15-81 Read Match Report >
    Singapore 6-3-39

April 2005
  Shanghai tour 16-04-2005 Malaysia 2-1-13 Read Match Report >
    Hong Kong 6-3-39
  Shanghai tour 16-04-2005 Shanghai 3-1-19 Read Match Report >
    Hong Kong 7-4-46

January 2005
  Combined Rules vs Ireland 22-01-2005 Hong Kong 37 Read Match Report >
    Gaelic Asian All-Stars 34