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St George Illawarra Dragons vs Brisbane Broncos: NRL live scores, blog

Roar Guru
15th March, 2013
Teams

St George Illawarra Dragons

1. Gerard Beale
2. Brett Morris
3. Chase Stanley
4. Matt Cooper
5. Jason Nightingale
6. Jamie Soward
7. Nathan Fien
8. Dan Hunt
9. Mitch Rein
10. Michael Weyman
11. Tyson Frizell
12. Ben Creagh
13. Trent Merrin

Interchange

14. Bronson Harrison
15. Leeson Ah Mau
16. Matt Prior
17. Cameron King

Brisbane Broncos

1. Corey Norman
2. Josh Hoffman
3. Jack Reed
4. Justin Hodges
5. Lachlan Maranta
6. Scott Prince
7. Peter Wallace
8. Josh McGuire
9. Andrew McCullough
10. Sam Thaiday
11. Alex Glenn
12. Matt Gillett
13. Corey Parker

Interchange

14. Ben Hunt
15. Ben Hannant
16. Mitchell Dodds
17. David Stagg

Kickoff: 8:05pm AEDT
Venue: WIN Stadium
Referees: Jason Robinson, Gavin Morris
History: Dragons 13 Broncos 15
Last meeting: Broncos 28-20 Dragons
Betting: $2.10 Dragons, $1.75 Broncos
TV: Channel Nine (LIVE)
Sam Thaiday in action during the NRL Round 23 Match, Brisbane Broncos v St George Illawarra Dragons AAP Image/Action Photographics, Colin Whelan
Roar Guru
15th March, 2013
91
4567 Reads

The St George Illawarra Dragons host the Brisbane Broncos tonight with both teams keen to fire in attack after producing disappointing performances with the football last week. Join us for live scores and commentary from 8.00pm AEDT.

St George Illawarra and Brisbane were both comprehensively outplayed by Melbourne and Manly respectively and need to improve considerably if they are to be a force in the NRL this season.

The Dragons tried hard last week but severely lacked the attacking class to trouble a Storm outfit that cantered to a 20-point win.

Brisbane themselves were also outplayed by Manly, and fell away badly from the moment they went behind in the second half.

In short, the offensive play of the Dragons and Broncos left a lot to be desired last week so it would not surprise to see both teams play out a low scoring encounter tonight.

Prediction

The Dragons at home will have an obligation to play more attacking football in front of their fans, especially after last week’s passive performance against Melbourne.

Nathan Fien in particular needs to improve his kicking game tenfold after producing more rocks than diamonds with his effort last week.

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Fien had a match to forget against Melbourne, with the majority of his attacking grubber kicks either going dead in-goal or resulting in a try to the opposition.

Halves partner Jamie Soward wasn’t as bad, but the former NSW Origin player still failed to get himself involved on a more regular basis in attack despite scoring an intercept try.

For the Dragons to score points this season, Soward is going to have to play well and take risks in attack. He certainly has the speed and talent to do so, especially when he pulls off those chip kicks in the middle of park.

Fien and Soward also need to get Brett Morris more involved in attack. The Origin and Test winger is one of the NRL’s best attacking talents and needs to get his hands in possession on a regular basis if the Dragons hope to open Brisbane up tonight.

The Broncos meanwhile will need Justin Hodges firing on all fronts. The Queensland centre was the only player that looked like opening Manly up last week and did so with two try assists.

If the Dragons can shut Hodges down, the Broncos attack will effectively go blunt, and it remains to be seen if halves Peter Wallace and Scott Prince possess the attacking class necessary to score against a Dragons unit that invariably play well at home.

Dragons by six.

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