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This Saturday night, the NRL’s top two teams, the St George Illawarra Dragons and Penrith Panthers, will go head-to-head.
It not only looms as a potential finals preview, but also the final chance for several players to stake their claim for Origin team selection ahead of Game I at the MCG on June 6.
Next week, NSW coach Brad Fittler and his Queensland counterpart Kevin Walters will name their sides for the opener at the MCG, after which is followed by Game II at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on June 24 and Game III at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on July 11.
After eleven series losses in the past twelve years, Fittler has already shown how serious he is in restoring pride to the Blues jumper, with plans to name the youngest and a vastly inexperienced side in the state’s recent history.
Among those he is expected to select include Jack de Belin, Tyson Frizell, Paul Vaughan and Euan Aitken, who have played their roles for the Dragons, and Nathan Cleary, who despite having just returned from injury has shown he is ready for the pressure cooker that is State of Origin.
Walters, meanwhile, will be forced into finding a new captain for the Maroons following the shock rep retirement of Cameron Smith last week, while he must also find just the state’s third different hooker since Game III of the 2003 series.
What is certain is that he will name Ben Hunt in the number seven guernsey, with the 28-year-old already proving to be a revelation for the Red V after signing a six-year, $6 million contract with the club in January last year.
But first, this Saturday night, all the focus will be on the top of the table showdown between the Dragons and Panthers, two sides that have impressed not only their fans, but also the NRL, in 2018.
Ben Hunt (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
There were elevated expectations for the Dragons this season after they secured the prized signatures of James Graham and Hunt during the off-season.
So far the club have lived up to them, finishing every single round on top of the ladder after thrashing the Brisbane Broncos by 34-12 at Kogarah Oval in Round 1, the win masterminded by Hunt whose intercept try in the second half completely turned the momentum his new side’s way.
They proceeded to win their next five games, marking the best start to a season by the Red V since the merged entity came into effect in 1999. They have also notched up impressive wins over the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm, two sides expected to feature in September this year.
The 299 points they have scored after eleven rounds is the most of any side, 31 points more than the next-best attacking side, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, to whom they lost in Round 10.
Their only other loss so far came against another very good side in the form of the New Zealand Warriors in Round 7.
Coach Paul McGregor put the loss to the Rabbitohs down to a poor first half, while Hunt appeared to struggle with an injury during that match, while the loss to the Warriors came across the ditch against a side that had previously struggled to win without star halfback Shaun Johnson.
Last Sunday, the Dragons reclaimed the premiership lead after defeating the Canberra Raiders by 25-18 in Mudgee, the win highlighted by a 50-metre try to fullback Matt Dufty in the final ten minutes.
Matthew Dufty has stamped himself as the Dragons’ first-choice fullback. (AAP Image/Darren Pateman)
Having passed tough tests against the likes of the Broncos, Roosters and Storm in the opening nine rounds, this Saturday night they are presented with another tough test when they travel to the foot of the mountains to face a Penrith Panthers side which has flown under the radar in 2018.
An off-season from hell last year, during which they lost captain Matt Moylan and Bryce Cartwright to the Sharks and Titans respectively, and also lost to the Brisbane Broncos in the semi-final, had many believing that coach Anthony Griffin would be the first coach to be dismissed this season.
However, the club appears to have moved on, notching up eight wins from their first eleven matches, including their last four in succession against the Bulldogs, Cowboys, Knights and the Wests Tigers.
Halfback Nathan Cleary made his return from injury against the Tigers last week, and won the battle against the side whom his father, and former Panthers mentor Ivan, currently coaches.
The most impressive aspect of the victory was not only the fact that the Panthers were able to keep the Tigers tryless, but also the way Cleary performed in his first match back in nearly two months.
In his absence, James Maloney has not only stepped up, but also proven his worth to the club, having arrived at the foot of the mountains in the wake of Matt Moylan’s sudden departure at the end of last season.
Already a premiership winner with the Roosters and the Sharks in 2013 and 2016 respectively, the NSW Origin five-eighth’s partnership with Cleary in the halves could prove to be the x-factor as the Panthers seek their third premiership, but first since 2003, this season.
As tough as this Saturday night’s match might be for the Dragons, it is also just as tough for the Panthers for the fact they twice lost to the Red V last year, including by 42-10 at Kogarah Oval in Round 1.
That result provided the springboard for the Dragons to start last year strongly, only to capitulate in the second half of the season to miss the finals altogether, but not before beating the mountain men once more by 16-14 at Panthers Stadium, the venue for this Saturday night’s clash, in Round 25.
James Maloney of the Panthers. (AAP Image/Michael Chambers)
On the flipside, while the Panthers started last season rather disastrously, they rebounded to eventually reach its third appearance in September in the past four years, bowing out to the Broncos in the second week of the finals.
This will be the only time the Panthers and Dragons meet in 2018, barring a likely September meeting, and a huge crowd is expected at the foot of the mountains for what is expected to be a titanic clash between the two best defensive sides in the competition so far.
While the Dragons have the chance to extend their lead at the top of the ladder with another victory on Saturday night, the Panthers can snatch top spot from the Dragons if (and only if) they win by a margin of 27 points or more (the Dragons’ points differential is +135 while the Panthers’ is +85).
Now it remains – who will take the points in what is undoubtedly the match to watch in Round 12, and more importantly, who will stake their claims to the Origin jumpers up for grabs before the teams are named next week?
We will all wait and watch with interest and intrigue this Saturday night.
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