The Dragons who fell one game short of a grand final last year take on Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium tomorrow night.

The match will be a curtain-raiser to the blockbuster, first-grade Parramatta and Canterbury game.

The Dragons finished second this season and return to the field after a week off after an impressive 48-24 win over New Zealand in the qualifying final.

Dragons coach Steve Price said his side were excited in the lead-up to the match.

"We're ready to go,'' Price said.

"We've got no injuries. This is what you play footy for. The guys are excited but the focus point is not looking past this game.''

The Dragons beat Wests 26-18 in their last encounter in round 18 and will be boosted by the inclusion of the teams four Toyota Cup team of the year players: halfback Beau Henry

(player of the year), winger Joe Vickery, second rower Jake Marketo and prop Trent Merrin.

"We've got to keep doing what we're doing and keep controlling the footy,'' Price said. "Keep that middle tight and work hard for each other.''

Price nominated the Tigers backrow of Simon Dwyer, Jason Schirnack and Matt Hyland as the opposition strong points and fullback Jake Mullaney could cause some headaches

too.

Similar to first grade, minor premiers Manly were bundled out of the competition last week. The winner of tomorrow night's clash will face either Melbourne or Brisbane in the grand

final next week.

Price said he was not overly surprised to see Manly crash out of grand final contention.

Brisbane beat Manly 24-10 and the Tigers defeated last year's premiers Canberra 42-34.

"In the past five weeks Manly's form hasn't been great,'' Price said.

"Brisbane have been on the way up and are starting to get a lot of momentum.''

The kick-off tomorrow night will be at 5.30pm.

DRAGONS

Chr is Astill, Kalifa Fai-Fai Loa, Dean Whare, Kane Linnett, Joe Vickery, Kyle Stanley, Beau Henry, Thomas Hancock, Mitchell Rein, Trent Merrin, Jake Marketo, Clifford Morris, Nathan Jones. Bench: Shannon Wakeman, Warwick Carter, Jarred Thompson, Wes Suckley,

Alex McKinnon, Cameron King, Henry Raiwalui, Sam Campbell.