St George Illawarra Dragons’ NRL season finals aspirations may well hinge on beating premiers Sydney Roosters, Saturday night, at Allianz Stadium, at 7.30pm.
The Dragons are 10th on 22 points and need to keep winning with six games to go, to force their way into the top eight.
There is a logjam for positions to make the finals. A win skyrockets teams into contention, a loss, is a quick slide down the competition ladder.
Dragons coach Paul McGregor has named an 18-man squad for the game and one player will be omitted.
McGregor has named interchange hooker Shane Pumipi on the five-man bench.
Does he opt for Pumipi to be the interchange man for starting hooker, Mitch Rein?
Or does he decide to use prop or second rower, Will Matthews, as a forward, with extra size and power, to combat the big Sydney Roosters pack.
Dragons skipper Ben Creagh must set the example with his power running and rugged defence to upset the Roosters.
Creagh is playing with renewed enthusiasm the past eight weeks since Paul McGregor took over as coach from Steve Price.
The younger forwards Jack de Belin, Jack Stockwell and English prop Mike Cooper, are also thriving under coach McGregor.
The Dragons have ‘‘muscled up’’ in the pack in recent weeks, an area where they needed to improve to tackle the competition heavyweights.
Will the Dragons keep their finals run alive and knock the Roosters off their perch?
