A Saturday afternoon clash in Canberra sees the Raiders take on the struggling St George Illawarra Dragons. Join The Roar for live scores from 5:30pm (AEDT).
The Raiders have started their season nicely, winning their first clash against the Sharks before dropping a close matchup to the Warriors. With the Dragons on board for Round 3, they’ll like their chances of improving to 2-1.
And considering their next 3 games (Roosters away, Sea Eagles in Albury, Storm at home), a 2-1 start could be very important.
The Dragons are struggling this season. There’s no other way to put it.
After two disastrous performances against the Storm and the Tigers, the Dragons find themselves facing the wooden spoon very early this season. With only 8 total points to their name through 2 matches, the offence needs to improve quickly if the Dragons stand any chance of challenging for finals.
The Raiders have been forced into a reshuffling of their side, with Jack Wighton ruled out with a facial injury. Jordan Rapana will come into the side to play fullback, while Jarrad Kennedy moves into the centres, and Josh Papalii moves back into the second row.
Interestingly, the Dragons have made no changes to their side, showing that they feel they have the troops to turn it around in Season 2015. The only (minor) change is a positional swap for Rory O’Brien and George Rose.
The key to this clash will be the halves battle. The young pairing in Canberra have been fairly good to start the season, and they’ve been getting suitable support from the forward pack.
The exact opposite has occurred in St George, with both Gareth Widdop and Benji Marshall trying hard this season, but not getting anywhere near enough support from the rest of their troops.
Prediction
This feels like a game that the Dragons could use to turn their season around, but their offence is just looking too bad at the moment. The Raiders should have enough to get over the line at home.
Raiders by 4