Nene Macdonald has made finding the stripe look easy this season but will look to break a personal duck when St George Illawarra return to Jubilee Oval to host the Wests Tigers on Sunday.
Macdonald, who has scored nine tries in 16 games already this season, is yet to score a four-pointer for the Dragons at Kogarah in his eight appearances in the red V at St George’s spiritual home.
The 24-year-old is only behind centre Euan Aitken (10) as St George Illawarra’s top try scorer this season, level with Matt Dufty on nine tries.
Macdonald has a better record at Kogarah in a Gold Coast jersey. He scored twice for the Titans in a 32-12 victory over the Dragons in 2016.
The giant winger is becoming known for his acrobatic finishes, scoring another incredible effort for the Dragons as they fell from the top of the NRL table after their late 52-30 loss to Melbourne on Thursday night.
St George Illawarra will look to bounce back and secure a 10th win from their last 11 matches at their spiritual home when they welcome the Tigers to Kogarah.
And Macdonald told the Leader the Dragons had turned Jubilee Oval into a fortress.
“I’m pretty pumped for it. I love playing these Sydney games especially at Kogarah Oval. Any local games where the crowd is close up it brings that much more atmosphere than the big stadiums,” he said.
“You come out to say ANZ [Stadium] and it’s the same amount of crowd but it’s just so spread out it feels like there’s hardly anyone there. Then you go to a smaller stadium with the same amount of people you hear the roars and everything and everyone getting involved just lifts [you] that little bit more and puts a bit more passion into it.
“It’s home for us. No one wants to lose at home. I think that’s with every team. They don’t want to lose at home. No matter the team bottom or top of the table you want to lift at home.”
St George Illawarra will hope to welcome back their State of Origin quintet of Ben Hunt, Tyson Frizell, Jack de Belin, Paul Vaughan and Tariq Sims after the five Dragons stars do battle in game three in Brisbane on Wednesday night.
Kick-off is at 4.10pm.
