Round 5: St George Illawarra Dragons v Newcastle Knights

[Research Station Drive]

www.jubileeavenue.com.au

Welcome back to Matt Head. Hopefully he can regain his fitness and form quickly!! Ill never forget that conversion to sink the Roosters!

Tell me about it mate! I was sitting on the fence exactly where Cooper scored that try, and just up the line Heady kicked the goal.

Amazing, best club game I've been to.

[The Original Idiot]

Greenshields left out again? If this keeps happening he'll be rushing to get out of there (and to the Titans, hopefully).

[Steelers]

Matty Head is BAAAAAACK!

[Research Station Drive]

Greenshields left out again? If this keeps happening he'll be rushing to get out of there (and to the Titans, hopefully).

No surprise in that. GS is a solid player, but the side looks a lot better with Hornby at the back.

[Queenslander]

NRL.com: Game Preview
St George Illawarra Dragons v Newcastle Knights
WIN Stadium,
Saturday night, 7.30pm

Operation 'shut down Andrew Johns'

HUNDREDS have tried and hundreds have failed, but the Dragons will still need to limit the mercurial Andrew Johns if they are to grab their third win on the trot this Saturday night.

The value of Johns to the Knights has never been made more obvious than it was last weekend, when the first placed Knights were beaten by the last placed Warriors after he withdrew with a neck injury.

So how do you limit such a dominant force? The Dragons should start by ?spotting? Johns in their attack when they are in their own half.

This means they should send their forwards at him in a bid to tire him out through defence. Normally, teams will ?spot? weak defenders in the opposition, (Steve Simpson spotted Nathan Fien against the Warriors and managed to score a try over him), but in the case of these two combatants, the tactics will be more suited to inducing fatigue.

Johns and his halves partner Kurt Gidley are both decent defenders, as are the Dragons? Trent Barrett and Mark Gasnier, so the idea will be to nullify their intensity in attack by wearing them out in defence.

When inside the red zone (the attacking 20 metres), expect Johns to play at the line, especially on shift plays where he will look to pick up fullback Milton Thaiday as a second man.

Thaiday scored a neat try in the right corner against the Bulldogs this way and will be looking to feed off 'Joey? again.

Last week Brisbane played before the line too much against St George Illawarra, allowing the Dragons defence some time to adjust and make decisions.

Johns won?t allow this. He?ll force the home side?s edge defenders to make judgment calls and attempt to pressure them into mistakes.

The Dragons will have to attempt to cut off all angles on Johns. The inside defenders, those at marker and in the 'A? defender position (first off the ruck), will need to pressure Johns as he starts to shift wide while the wide defenders need to push up and in together.

It is imperative the defenders go up in a line together because Johns will no doubt exploit even the tiniest of holes.

The complete professional he is, Johns is likely to implement his vast array of short kicks should the defence rush him, thus it is vital Dragons fullback Ben Hornby is ready to clean up any option Johns might take. Johns set up seven tries last year with his kicking game and has already added two more in the early stages of this season.

One of the Knights? (and Dragons? for that matter) favourite plays is the early shift. Newcastle will push the ball to one side, then suck in the wide defenders by hitting a straight runner on the fringes before fighting for a quick play-the-ball and hitting the short side on the ?keep going?. It is a move that has already caused the Dragons some headaches in the opening rounds. Tony Puletua scored for the Panthers against the ?red V? in this fashion, and the Knights have had success with it also.

The Dragons prefer the early shift because it means quality ball for Gasnier and Matt Cooper. Nathan Brown?s side will attempt to draw in defences with either a dummy half run or a simple hit-up, before Ben Hornby will slot in as a first receiver and allow Barrett to set up his outside support.

The early shift also has another desired effect. It should force the Knights to spread out, opening up space for Barrett to exploit the inside should he so desire. If the forwards get tired or lazy, expect Hornby to be sniffing around the middle for an offload.

While Thaiday has been in great attacking form, expect the Dragons to pepper him with towering bombs. Barrett terrorised Karmichael Hunt with the high kick and Thaiday has failed to diffuse three bombs so far this season.

The other trademark Knights? play is the Matt Gidley pass. Reece Simmonds will have to resist the urge to come in on Gidley, or risk being burned ? as many have before him.

Concentration for the full 80 minutes may well be the key. If the Dragons lose focus for even a split second, there is no doubt Johns and his Knights will make the most of the opportunity and grab their first win in Wollongong since 1998, but if the home side can stick to its plan and bustle Johns into making decisions with minimal time, they have the attacking power to make it three from the past three.

Best Bet? The Dragons to repeat their last three wins against the Knights, which have all been by 1-12 Margins.

Money-spinner: The Dragons have conceded the first try in all four matches, making Milton Thaiday or Matt Gidley good bets to be First Tryscorer.

[Queenslander]

Johns cleared to play
April 6, 2006

NEWCASTLE halfback Andrew Johns has been cleared of a serious neck injury and is an "80 per cent" chance to play in his side's NRL clash with St George Illawarra on Saturday night.

Johns underwent an MRI scan last night and was today cleared of any major neck damage by Professor John Yeo, a spinal rehab specialist at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney.

The scans revealed the latest injury is unrelated to the serious neck injury he sustained in 2003, with club doctor Neil Halpin declaring him an almost certain starter against the Dragons at WIN Stadium.

AAP

[[BroncosGirl]]

I think im tippin the Knights here, especially if Joey is back. Dragons had a win over Broncos () But still looked very scratchy, still not at their best. But Knights with Joey are very electric and can score tries very easily!

[Steelers]

I am still sticking by the Dragons... I reckon Joey will make less of an impact because of his injury... he will stay in his shell a bit IMO

[Super Cronk]

cleared to play but only 80 percent fit....hmmmm. Tough one but prolly enough for knights to get the win.

[Steelers]

Well many tippers from OzTips.com have tipped the Dragons... have a look at this!

[Steelers]

Ooohhh according to NRL.com, the Knights are wearing their red away jerseys... I think that is a bit of an insult to the Steelers considering they are playing at Wollongong

[Steelers]

10 mins gone... score remains 0-0 with both teams having consecutive sets on oppositions line.

[Steelers]

Penalty goal to Newcastle... score is 2 - 0 after 15 mins

[Steelers]

11 MINS TO GO UNTIL HALF TIME
Carney scores out wide... 6 - 0 to the Knights kick to come...
...
...
...
...
and the kick is unsuccessful meaning the score stays at 6 - 0

[Steelers]

10 MINS TO GO UNTIL HALF TIME
Colin Best drops a spiraling bomb from Joey and the Knights score again

conversion successful.... the score is now 12 - 0 to the Knights