Round 4: Dragons v Sea Eagles preview
AJ previews Saturday's meeting between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.
Dragons look to show resilience against seething Manly
The St George Illawarra Dragons will be looking to bounce back from two poor performances on the trot when they return to WIN Stadium for the first time in 2024. They will be taking on a Manly side fresh off their first loss in controversial circumstances against Parramatta.
St George Illawarra have showed impressive early signs with a dominant win over the Gold Coast. But, their last two efforts have seen them crash back to reality conceding 84 points and seen questions arise about the team's attitude and commitment. That was shown against the Cowboys last start, they had an 18-4 lead and things couldn't be better, then Ray Faitala-Mariner bombs a certain try and their heads dropped. Seven consecutive tries later and the Dragons had an embarrassing home defeat on their hands.
To beat Manly, they are going to have to restrict their edges. They have absolutely fired down both sides to start the season, exploiting any opportunity given to them to fire shots at their opposition. Shane Flanagan has stated repeatedly that he is looking to rebuild the culture and they could go a long way to doing that with a complete 80 minute performance. A rejuvenated middle led by Blake Lawrie will have to dominate from the outset and carry out how Parramatta broke them down in that middle third. Kyle Flanagan has shown promising signs so far in his running game, that along with their metre-eaters out of yardage and there's every chance of an upset.
In team news, Francis Molo, Jacob Liddle and Jaydn Su'a return from injury and suspension. This pushes Jack De Belin, Jesse Marschke and Ray Faitala-Mariner back to the bench who are joined by Hame Sele making his first appearance of 2024 resulting in Connor Muhleisen, Michael Molo and Viliami Fifita making way.
Manly will feel incredibly heartbroken after last Sunday's game. They had Parramatta on the ropes at 14-0, dominating all facets of play. But an error midway through the first half, flipped the script and they were back on the backfoot. Although, they managed to lead at the break, Parramatta were able to dominate Manly's middle creating second phase play at will for the second 40 and take victory.
To beat the Dragons, it's all about upsetting the flow of the home side. They want to dictate terms and once St George Illawarra stray away from that, they have shown this season that it is an uphill battle to get back up the mountain. Taniela Paseka and Haumole Olakau'atu caused big problems for the Roosters a fortnight ago because they won the physical battle in the opening collisions. If that happens again, it'll free up Brooks, DCE and Turbo to do what they do best.
In team news, they are 1-17. Tommy Talau is an outside chance of returning from injury while Tof Sipley will need to work his way into the 17 after his suspension for an ugly crusher tackle concluded last weekend.
Last meeting: Round 22 2023 - Dragons 18 Sea Eagles 24
Who to watch: St George will be keen to place the memories of last week behind them. One of the stars last week was Kyle Flanagan. Flanagan scored a great solo try and seems to have rediscovered his running game which went away at both the Roosters and Bulldogs. He needs to continue his strong start to the season and his combination with Ben Hunt if the Dragons want to build into 2024.
For Manly, the focus is on Ben Trbojevic. Burbo won the left edge spot over Josh Schuster after a strong pre-season. After an impressive start in Vegas, Burbo has fallen down to earth in recent weeks and will need another strong performance against a leaky Dragons defence. With Schuster and others' footsteps approaching quickly, this is the time for Burbo to deliver.
Favourite: Manly favoured by the punters in this clash.
My tip: I can see St George being competitive early, but if one thing goes wrong it'll be a real litmus test to see where they are at in season 2024 through the opening month. Manly have just enough class to be able to run away with victory, especially with how sharp they looked out wide through all their matches so far. Manly by 14.
