RUGBY LEAGUE
St George Illawarra and Cronulla fans will be sweating on the fitness of key players in tonight’s first State of Origin clash ahead of Sunday’s derby.
The Dragons host local rivals the Sharks at Kogarah’s Jubilee Oval and want to continue their fine start to the season, while Cronulla needs to build on their epic golden point win over the Titans a fortnight ago.
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan will hope giant prop Andrew Fifita comes through Origin unscathed, while Paul McGregor has both Josh Dugan and Trent Merrin to worry about.
All three players were named in their respective teams on Tuesday.
Sharks and NSW captain Paul Gallen was not named to return from his hip injury.
Both clubs hope to be well represented at the ground on Sunday afternoon, with Cronulla calling for a ‘Sea of Blue’ to combat St George Illawarra’s ‘Red V red out’.
See Thursday’s Leader for a full preview of the derby.
TEAMS
St George Illawarra Dragons
Josh Dugan, Eto Nabuli, Euan Aitken, Peter Mata’utia, Jason Nightingale, Gareth Widdop, Benji Marshall, Leeson Ah Mau, Mitch Rein, Mike Cooper, Tyson Frizell, Joel Thompson, Trent Merrin. Interchange: Heath L’Estrange, Ben Creagh, Jack de Belin, Will Matthews, Jake Marketo
Cronulla Sharks
Ben Barba, Valentine Holmes, Blake Ayshford, Gerard Beale, Michael Gordon, Jack Bird, Jeff Robson, Andrew Fifita, Michael Ennis, Matt Prior, Jayson Bukuya, Wade Graham (c), Luke Lewis. Interchange: Sami Sauiluma, Tinirau Arona, David Fifita, Sam Tagataese, Tim Robinson
