Eels v Dragons NRLW preview

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Parramatta Eels v St George Illawarra Dragons Sunday 12:00pm at CommBank Stadium, Parramatta / Burramattagal

NRLW returns to Parramatta for the second week in a row with the Parramatta Eels who are looking to get their season going when they take on Round 1 winners, the St George Illawarra Dragons.

The Eels had a mixed performance last week as they fell to a 38-16 defeat to the defending premiers the Sydney Roosters at Commbank Stadium. A new-look Eels side was looking to improve their defence for the 2022 season as they missed out on the finals purely based on for and against.

Last weekend, Parramatta started slowly trailing 12-0 early on in the contest before being able to fight back to level the scores before falling behind at half time. The Eels did close the gap back to two points and then the Roosters took it up a gear and left Parramatta behind. There were plenty of good signs for the Eels that they will want to work on especially looking to make sure they don't want to go 0-2 to start the season.

Parramatta coach Dean Widders has made a number of changes to his side, Brooke Morgan-Walker and Abbi Church have been dropped back to the reserves, Tayla Preston comes into the halves while Zali Fay comes onto the wing whilst Rikeya Horne moves to the centre.

The St George Illawarra Dragons made a good start to their season with an impressive 26-12 victory over the Gold Coast Titans at WIN Stadium. The Dragons were at their crisp best against the Titans who were poor and their poor ball handling gave the Red ‘V a strong attacking game. The Dragons were impressive especially on their flanks which caused problems all day for the Gold Coast. 

Despite losing a key forward last week, the positional switches weren't an issue for the Dragons with their go-forward through the middle of the park being strong and then their halves and edges are strong which will be something that will look to use once again.

The Dragons will welcome back Elsie Albert who was a late withdrawal last week which saw Kezie Apps move to the front row while Talei Holmes came into the second row. The side looks as it did prior to the withdrawal of Albert last week with Kezie Apps moving back to the second row while Talei Holmes moves to the bench.

Last meeting: Round 2 2021 - Dragons 10 Eels 0

Who to watch: Coming off the bench, Kennedy Cherrington made a big impact last week coming off the bench and her spark was a big part of the comeback. The force and impact that she had was important and will be important again especially her ferocity and her attempts to get under the Roosters players skins.

Dragons five-eighth, Taliah Fuimaono was absolutely fantastic last week and she caused issues especially when she was able to put Teagan Berry through with some amazing footwork and then caused problems with her running game. If she can continue on that form then the Eels will need to be on their defensive game.

The favourite: The Dragons are at very short odds for this one.

My tip: The Dragons should be too hard to beat with a much stronger line-up and the impact of key players just outdoes what the Eels could manage this weekend. If the Eels start as slow as they did last weekend, then they could be in for issues. Dragons by 14.

1. Gayle Broughton 2. Zali Fay 3. Tiana Penitani 4. Rikeya Horne 5. Tess Staines 6. Tayla Preston 21. Ash Quinlan 8. Filomina Hanisi 9. Seli Mailangi 10. Ellie Johnston 11. Christian Pio 12. Vanessa Foliaki 13. Simaima Taufa 14. Kennedy Cherrington 15. Brooke Anderson 16. Najvada George 17. Ruby-Jean Kennard 18. Rueben Cherrington

1. Emma Tonegato 2. Teagan Berry 3. Keele Browne 4. Page Mcgregor 5. Andie Robinson 6. Taliah Fuimaono 7. Rachael Pearson 8. Elsie Albert 9. Keeley Davis 10. Tegan Dymock 11. Kezie Apps 12. Shaylee Bent 13. Holli Wheeler 14. Quincy Dodd 15. Talei Holmes 16. Monalisa Soliola 17. Tara McGrath-West 22. Shontelle Stowers

Referees: Belinda Sharpe; Sideline Officials: Tori Wilkie, Jake Sutherland; Video Referees: Matt Noyen;