Round 8 of the NRL season starts with another massive Anzac Day double-header, with the top two teams – the St George Illawarra Dragons and New Zealand Warriors – taking the field for their traditional clashes against the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm respectively.
Last Friday night, the Warriors and Dragons played a clash worthy of the finals, as the locals handed the Red V their first defeat of the season.
The Dragons, who remain on top of the ladder on percentage, follow this up against a Roosters side that has been sluggish, with four wins.
It will be the 17th consecutive season the two sides have faced off on Anzac Day, and for the most part, the clashes have been close, with the past three decided by two points or fewer.
Last year’s clash saw ex-Rooster Mitchell Pearce kick the winning field goal in golden point extra time to give his side a 13-12 victory.
Dragons captain Gareth Widdop’s partnership in the halves with high-money recruit Ben Hunt has been a major factor in the club’s best start to a season since the merger came into effect ahead of the 1999 season.
James Graham has also provided good leadership and experience in a forward pack that is set to be decimated come State of Origin time.
James Graham of the Dragons. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Overall, the Dragons lead with ten wins to six, and they’ll be keen to continue on that dominance especially with the Warriors, who play the Melbourne Storm later that evening, chasing them at the top of the ladder.
The Kiwis have surprised and impressed in 2018, the pre-season wooden spoon favourites having won six of their first seven matches to be sitting second on the ladder on percentage.
This includes wins over the Roosters (at Allianz Stadium) and Dragons, in which they were led by Mason Lino, who was deputising for injured halfback Shaun Johnson on both occasions.
It’s proof the Auckland-based club – for so long ridiculed over their lack of success, despite being based in a rugby union-dominated country – can win without their star halfback.
Their biggest test will come on Wednesday night when they make the annual trip to Melbourne for the Anzac night clash against the Storm, which is expected to attract another bumper crowd.
Melbourne have been a bit off so far in their premiership defence, losing twice to the Wests Tigers, as well as to the Cronulla Sharks in Round 4.
However, they returned to the form that their fans know best last Friday night, thrashing the Brisbane Broncos by 34-20 and continuing an excellent record against the northerners that dates back to 2005.
Captain Cameron Smith is playing as well as ever, and there are reports that the Queensland and Australian captain is set to play on for another season, at the end of which he will be 36.
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He is likely to be the final member of the Storm’s ‘Fab Four’ standing, with Greg Inglis and Cooper Cronk having both left the club in 2010 and 2017 respectively, and Billy Slater set to hang up the boots at the end of this season.
The kick-off time for the Storm versus Warriors match is 7pm, which will allow fans who would have just enjoyed the Collingwood versus Essendon AFL match over the bridge at the MCG to make it into AAMI Park in time.
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