Round 8: Dragons v Roosters preview
Dragons Look To Continue Building Against Uninspiring Roosters Outfit
In the traditional ANZAC day clash between the two sides, it'll be the up and coming 4-3 Dragons looking to for their third straight win taking on a struggling 3-4 Roosters side looking to avoid what could be a 4th loss in their last 5 outings. Just like we all expected.
The Dragons have probably been the biggest surprise packet so far this year in terms of how their actual performance has compared to what their pre-season expectations were. While things got off to a rocky start on the defensive side of the ball, new coach Shane Flanagan appears to have made some major improvements to the Dragons' ability to keep other teams from scoring tries, with the Red V conceding 12 points or less in 3 of their last 4 games, including matchups against explosive attacking sides the Sea Eagles and Warriors.
If St George Illawarra can roll this form into the ANZAC day clash, there's no reason they can't cause an upset. The Roosters looked completely lost whenever they had the ball inside Melbourne's 20 last week, their only two tries coming from cross-field kicks that were batted back to create broken field type situations. It's bad enough that it didn't look like their attack was capable of scoring a conventional try, but the embarrassment was compounded when the tri-colours were unable to capitalise within a 10-minute period where the Storm were a man down. Something is going to have to change for the Roosters to score enough points to take the win on Thursday.
In team news, the Dragons are unchanged from the 17 that easily disposed of the Warriors last start, while the Roosters have a few reinforcements coming back into the side. Dom Young returns from a 2 game suspension and will start on the wing, pushing Joseph Suaalii to the centres and Michael Jennings out of the side. Sam Walker is back from a head knock, meaning Connor Watson will come off the bench and Zach Dockar-Clay will be playing reserve grade.
Last meeting: Round 12 2023 - Dragons 24 Roosters 22
Who to watch: Ed's note: this preview was written and published on Wednesday morning, before both Ravalawa and Tupou were omitted.
All eyes have been on the resurgent Zac Lomax so far this year for the Dragons and rightly so, however one of the biggest "losers" from his move to the wing was Fijian flyer Mikaele Ravalawa. In 2023, Ravalawa benefitted so much from Lomax's ability to draw in defenders and make the last pass, resulting in him scoring a career high 21 tries. Without Lomax on his inside to start this year, Ravalawa has struggled to make the same sort of impact, and it isn't a coincidence that he scored his first try last week in Lomax's first game back in the centres. Another aspect of the situation is that with Lomax on the wing, he was getting a lot of the aerial targets in attack that were previously going to Ravalawa, taking away another avenue for the big winger to get involved. Lomax has again been named at centre this week as Jack Bird continues to recover from injury, so expect to see Ravalawa on the receiving end of a lot of quality ball, while the aerial battle between him and Daniel Tupou should also be enthralling.
It's been a tough year for the Roosters so far in 2024, but one of the more positive stories to come out of the club has been the resurgence of second rower Angus Crichton. Crichton sat out much of 2023 with some well documented mental health issues and there were warranted fears that he may not return to the footy field again, let alone regain the form that's seen him represent NSW and Australia. So far, Crichton has shown that he has a lot more left in the tank as a first grade and potentially representative footballer, and at only 28 years of age there's no reason he can't play at this level for another 4+ seasons. Crichton has consistently looked among the most dangerous of the Roosters forwards, constantly busting tackles and getting over the advantage line to give his side momentum. He's started and remained on the field for 80 minutes three times this year, and in those games he's averaging 160 running metres and over 3 tackle breaks per game. Crichton will again play a pivotal role setting the platform for a Roosters spine that needs all the help it can get at the moment.
Favourite: The Roosters are 6-point favourites in this one at the time of writing.
My tip: Anything can happen on ANZAC day and I don't think there is a result that would shock me. They way both sides are playing you wouldn't think it, but the Roosters do have a superior side on paper and I'm predicting this to be a game where water finds its level. Roosters by 8.
