St George Illawarra will be without Zac Lomax for their crucial match against the Dolphins, as the Dragons face a pivotal six-game stretch that will determine their finals prospects.
Sunday’s game at Kogarah marks the beginning of a grueling schedule for the Dragons, with matches against six of the NRL’s top teams surrounding their round-20 bye.
Lomax is sidelined after club officials decided on Saturday to rest him, following his heroic performance for NSW State of Origin on an injured knee.
In better news for the Dragons, both Ben Hunt and Jaydn Su’A will play, despite their midweek loss with Queensland in the Origin clash.
Following the Dolphins game, the Dragons will take on the Sydney Roosters in round 18, then head to Brisbane for an Origin-affected match. They will also face Penrith, Melbourne, and Canterbury before a brief respite with a home game against the struggling Gold Coast. The tough stretch concludes with a round 25 home game against the high-flying Cronulla.
Currently on the fringes of the finals, the Dragons know this period will be crucial in ending the joint-venture’s longest finals drought.
“It’s tough,” said prop Jack de Belin. “This next period can really set up our end of year and playing finals aspirations. If we want to play finals, we have to win half those games, to set ourselves up for a home stretch which is a little bit nicer than the coming block.”
Five-eighth Kyle Flanagan added, “It’s massive for us. It’s so important for our season, these next couple of games. It is against tough opposition. The way that competition table is around the top eight, every game is crucial.”
The Dragons are also focusing on consistency within matches. Their round-two clash with the Dolphins was one of their worst performances of the season, losing 38-0 in Redcliffe. While they can compete with top teams at their best, they struggle defensively at their worst and have experienced significant drops in performance within the same game.
“The gap is definitely getting smaller with consistency in games,” Flanagan said. “It’s just stopping the flow of the game when momentum is going against us. That’s been our focus over the bye period, how we could close that gap. That starts Sunday against the Dolphins.”
