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Fresh off a morale-boosting win over Canberra, the St George Illawarra Dragons are full of confidence and will fancy their chances of upsetting the Manly Sea Eagles at home. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:30pm AEDT.
Having produced a shocking performance against the Tigers in Round 2, St George Illawarra found themselves in another hole against the Raiders in Canberra.
Trailing 18-nil in the first half, the Dragons rallied superbly to post a 22-20 victory that could prove to be a season-defining performance from the Red V.
While Canberra are hardly premiership material at the moment, the Dragons were struggling for confidence after their poor performance against the Tigers and last week’s win should have gone a long way to instilling some belief.
The Sea Eagles meanwhile were gallant in their 16-12 defeat to the Bulldogs and welcome back Kieran Foran and Jamie Lyon into their starting line-up.
At their best, Manly are comfortably the better attacking outfit, so the Dragons can ill afford to start slowly yet again.
If the Dragons hope to dent Manly’s attack, stopping Daly Cherry-Evans is a must. When he plays well like he did against Melbourne in Round 2, the Sea Eagles are close to unstoppable with the football. In short, the game plan is simple for the Dragons. Stop Cherry-Evans and you stop Manly.
Attacking-wise the Dragons must avoid going sideways too early in their sets. They need to establish dominance up the middle of the park before exploiting spaces out wide. When they do go wide, they need to have players in motion and play at speed – something they failed miserably at against the Tigers.
Back at home, the Dragons should be expected to push Manly all the way in what should be a close encounter. They possess a good record against the Sea Eagles and are good value for an upset.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:30pm (AEDT). If you are following the action live be sure to share your thoughts on the match in the comments below.