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Dragons
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With the season proper one round in, the St George Illawarra Dragons find themselves coming off something of a surprising opening-round loss and hosting the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEDT) for live scores and a blog of the game.
It was not that long ago that the Dragons had what you could safely argue was one of the best forward packs in the league.
Suddenly, with Jack de Belin’s unavailability and Tyson Frizell’s uncomfortable injury, they not looking so strong up front. A lot now sits on the shoulders of other big-name forwards like James Graham and Paul Vaughan.
When you add in the uncertainty surrounding the new halves combination of Ben Hunt and Corey Norman and whether Gareth Widdop is going to make the fullback position his own, all of a sudden uncertainty surrounds St George Illawarra.
Norman didn’t have the worst game against the Cowboys (290 kicking metres, 110 running metres, one try assist) so he will want to build on that solid first match and take charge of this affair. He and Hunt must make sure their kicking game is on song.
Rabbitohs halfback Adam Reynolds showed just how important a strong kicking game is against the Roosters last week, going for 438 metres off the boot. He could be playing AFL with those numbers.
The reason he was so free to kick so effectively was his forward pack were burning up the field. Sam Burgess ran for 173 metres, Cameron Murray helped himself to 155, and Thomas Burgess earned his oranges with 142.
For Souths to win again, against an underfire Saints’ pack eager to impress, their forwards will have to lift once more and ensure their halfback, and his halves partner Cody Walker, have the platform to weave their magic.
Under the tutelage of Wayne Bennett, that should be a message that is well-drilled into the side.
Saints and Souths have played four times at Jubilee Stadium, and Souths have only managed the singular win.
Prediction
The problem with the first three or four rounds is there’s so little form to go off. What can you really read into a fired up Souths outfit beating the reigning premiers, or a Saints team losing after a once-in-a-lifetime forward performance by Jason Taumalolo?
The loss of Tyson Frizell is the main factor, and with a superior forward pack, the Bunnies should be more than capable of getting the job done.
South Sydney by 8.
Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEDT) for live coverage as South Sydney travel to take on the Dragons, and don’t forget to leave your comments in the section below.
Kick-off: 7:50pm (AEDT)
Venue: Jubilee Stadium
TV: Channel Nine, Fox Sports 502
Betting: Dragons $2.50, Rabbitohs $1.55
Teams
St George Illawarra Dragons
1. Gareth Widdop, 2. Jordan Pereira, 3. Euan Aitkin, 4. Timoteo Lafai, 5. Mikaele Ravalawa, 6. Corey Norman, Ben Hunt, 8. James Graham, 9. Cameron McInnes, 10. Paul Vaughan, 11. Jacob Host, 12. Tariq Sims, 13. Blake Lawrie
Interchange: 14. Jeremy Latimore, 15. Matthew Dufty, 16. Josh Kerr, 17. Luciano Leilua
Reserves: 18. Zac Lomax, 20. Mitchell Allgood
South Sydney Rabbitohs
1. Alex Johnston, 2. Dane Gagai, 3. Greg Inglis, 4. Braidon Burns, 5. Campbell Graham, 6. Cody Walker, 7. Adam Reynolds, 8. Tevita Tatola, 9. Damien Cook, 10. Thomas Burgess, 11. John Sutton, 12. Sam Burgess, 13. Cameron Murray
Interchange: 14. Liam Knight, 15. Mark Nicholls, 16. Ethan Lowe, 17. Kyle Turner
Reserves: 18. Corey Allan, 20. Rhys Kennedy
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