This Dragons home game will be played at Allianz Stadium – which has yet to be classified as a Dragons home ground – and should prove quite a battle, despite the bookie giving the Roosters favourism.
Both teams have last-up wins and both will be keen to get the points on offer, so what can we look forward to?
The Roosters will have looked at the video of the Dragons’ last game against the Warriors and noticed both Warriors’ tries were scored through the St George’s new centre, Nathan Green. The Roosters are bound to target that side of the field, unless Dragons coach looks at the video too and pulls one of his last minute pre-game changes. Most likely is moving Joel Thompson from second row to centre, leaving in-form Dragons centre Charly Runciman to run around in the NSW Cup.
The match-up of Dragons halves Gareth Widdop and Michael Witt against Roosters James Maloney and Mitchell Pearce will be interesting, with both pairs starting to run into form. Look for Widdop and Witt to demonstrate their evolving combination with fullback Josh Dugan.
Kicking will also play a vital part in this game and again the video of the Warriors game will clearly demonstrate that the Dragons back three are happy defusing bombs, so expect to see more grubbers than high balls.
The Dragons will no doubt be concentrating on containing Sonny Bill Williams as much as possible – look for Tyson Frizell and Mike Cooper aiming up at the dual international. If they can frustrate him at the beginning of the game, he may start to take more risks and make mistakes.
The Roosters look to have too much power in both the backs and forwards but they have failed to deliver consistently, while the Dragons seem to be slowly improving as the season progresses. In what should be a free-flowing, attacking game, I am inclined to go with the Roosters – unless the Dragons come up with a last-minute fix for Nathan Green in the centres.
Kickoff: 4:00pm Friday 25 April (AEST)
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Dragons
1 Josh Dugan, 2 Brett Morris, 3 Nathan Green, 4 Gerard Beale, 5 Jason Nightingale, 6 Gareth Widdop, 7 Michael Witt, 8 Jack Stockwell, 9 Mitch Rein, 10 Dan Hunt, 11 Joel Thompson, 12 Ben Creagh (c), 13 Trent Merrin Interchange: 14 Bronson Harrison, 15 Tyson Frizell, 16 Mike Cooper, 17 Leeson Ah Mau, 18 Jack De Belin
Roosters
1 Anthony Minichiello (c), 2 Daniel Tupou, 3 Michael Jennings, 4 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 5 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 6 James Maloney, 7 Mitchell Pearce, 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9 Jake Friend, 10 Sam Moa, 11 Boyd Cordner, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 13 Aidan Guerra Interchange: 14 Frank-Paul Nu’uausala, 15 Mitchell Aubusson, 16 Isaac Liu, 17 Dylan Napa, 18 Daniel Mortimer
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