St. George Illawarra Dragons
18
Match Complete
Wests Tigers
14
| Z. Lomax |  | 65 | ||
| M. Ravalawa |  | 63 | ||
| 39 | | B. Wakeham | ||
| 39 | | A. Koroisau | ||
| 33 | | J. Tupou | ||
| Z. Lomax | | 23 | ||
| Z. Lomax | | 22 | ||
| Z. Lomax | | 17 | ||
| T. Sloan | | 16 | ||
| 9 | | J. Tupou |
| 3 | Tries | 3 | ||
| 3 | Conversions | 1 | ||
| 0 | Penalty Goals | 0 | ||
| 0 | Field Goals | 0 |
Round 21 of the NRL premiership kicks off tonight when the St George Illawarra Dragons take on the Wests Tigers at WIN Stadium in Wollongong. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:50pm (AEST).
With such a compressed ladder, most NRL teams are still in the running for the finals. That doesn’t extend to these two teams however, with avoidance of the wooden spoon likely to be higher on the agenda.
The Dragons gained two points last weekend from the bye, but in the weekend prior they lost 36-26 to the Raiders at home. In the context of how well Canberra is performing at the moment, that was not too bad a result.
The Dragons young halves pairing of Jayden Sullivan and Talatau Amone got early ball to the Dragons backline, with Zac Lomax and Mikaele Ravalawa having tremendous games for their team. However, some of the defence was not up to first grade standard.
In team changes, Tyrell Sloan and, Jacob Liddle return from injury. Ben Hunt is back from Origin in a straight swap for the injured Sullivan and Jack Bird gets a call up after a couple of games in NSW Cup. Dan Russell will replace the injured Ben Murdoch-Masila in the second row.
The Tigers are lurching from one crisis to the next at the moment, courtesy of a 6 game losing streak, the latest being a 34-18 belting from the Knights.
Wests are dealing with an injury crisis in their halves, with Brandon Wakeham and Will Smith far from their first choice of 6 and 7. That is leaving Api Koroisau and young fullback Jahream Bula with the bulk of responsibility to create opportunities.
David Nofoaluma returns to the wing after recovering from a shoulder injury and Daine Laurie gets another shot at the 6 jersey, with Smith relegated to the reserves.
Prediction
The Dragons may only sit two points above the Tigers on the table but I suspect the class gulf may be bigger than that. In Wollongong, the Dragons will just about avoid the wooden spoon. Dragons by 14
Game information
Venue: WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Kick-off: 7.50pm (AEST)
TV: Fox Sports, Nine
Streaming: Kayo Sports, Foxtel, 9Now
Odds: Dragons $1.62 Tigers $2.30 – odds via PlayUp
Dragons: 1. Tyrell Sloan 2. Mathew Feagai 3. Moses Suli 4. Zac Lomax 5. Mikaele Ravalawa 6. Talatau Amone 7. Ben Hunt 8. Francis Molo 9. Jacob Liddle 10. Blake Lawrie 11. Billy Burns 12. Dan Russell 13. Jack de Belin 14. Moses Mbye 15. Michael Molo 16. Toby Couchman 17. Jack Bird 18. Zane Musgrove 19. Sione Finau 20. Ryan Couchman 21. Max Feagai 22. Jaiyden Hunt
Tigers: 1. Jahream Bula 2. David Nofoaluma 3. Starford To’a 4. Tommy Talau 5. Junior Tupou 6. Daine Laurie 7. Brandon Wakeham 8. Stefano Utoikamanu 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. David Klemmer 11. Isaiah Papali’i 12. John Bateman 13. Shawn Blore 14. Tallyn Da Silva 15. Fonua Pole 16. Alex Seyfarth 17. Alex Twal 18. Aitasi James 19. Jake Simpkin 20. Will Smith 21. Asu Kepaoa 22. Justin Matamua
andrew
Roar Rookie
Ravalawa comes in off his wing too often, surely Carr can have a word to him, I’m sure Flanagan will.
andrew
Roar Rookie
Hopefully Flanagan will teach them how to tackle, the defence is improving.
Dodgy Dragons
Roar Rookie
Our whole defence is broken, not just the wingers coming in all the time. We lose the ruck every week, and can’t put guys on their back, yet we always end up on ours. A lot of that is attitude and commitment, but a lot of those players look like they have never been taught to tackle, no shoulder and lots of jumper grabbing.
Rossi
Roar Rookie
Ever since Hook was hooked and Lomax was moved back to the right he's been good. It was good seeing him hit the conversions sweetly. I thought Amone had a good game, but someone needs to ensure Rava stays on his bloody wing in defence!
Rossi
Roar Rookie
Tigers hardly had the ball down Dragons end in the second half, too many errors. Dragons were the least worst team I felt
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
Tigers need a kicker. Just goes to show the difference maximising your "extras" can make
Stormy
Roar Rookie
Pretty even all through, I thought. Either team would have been delighted, & very lucky, to have won it.
Stormy
Roar Rookie
That was weird!
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
or discipline, or brains… Sloan apparently catches the ball 5m out and tuns back to the in-goal to give up a drop out… I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Not convinced we deserved that. I listened from 30minutes in a the Tigers sounded on top for the last 50 minutes.
Stormy
Roar Rookie
Sorry, DP. There was just no vigour or urgency.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Cripes, that's a step up...., cellar to the penthouse, enjoy :)
Dodgy Dragons
Roar Rookie
Cheers David
Panthers
Roar Rookie
That should be a beauty!
Stormy
Roar Rookie
Congratulations Dragons, a wins a win. I feel a draw might have been the fair result. Thanks David - great call, again. You certainly weren't alone - a busy night for most of us.
David Holden
Roar Guru
haha...wanted to do 3 games and Sunday afternoon is out for me
Redcap
Roar Guru
A little lucky, but beggars and all that. Beat Manly next week and the top 13 might be in sight. :happy:
Dodgy Dragons
Roar Rookie
Maybe a chat with Flanno? He has played good the last couple of games, even kicking better.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
I think the Tigers have plenty of good forwards & backs. They just need someone to lead them around the ground. Someone to follow at halfback.
David Holden
Roar Guru
Thanks very much for joining the blog tonight. I will be back tomorrow night for the Rabbitohs and Broncos!