NRL Squad for Round 11 v New Zealand Warriors: 1. Jason Nightingale 2. Nene Macdonald 3. Taane Milne 4. Tim Lafai 5. Kalifa Faifai Loa 6. Kurt Mann 7. Josh McCrone 8. Russell Packer 9. Cameron McInnes 10. Paul Vaughan 11. Tyson Frizell (c) 12. Joel Thompson 13. Jack de Belin Interchange: 14. Tariq Sims 15. Leeson Ah Mau 16. Hame Sele 17. Jai Field 18. Matt Dufty 19. Siliva Havili 20. Luciano Leilua 21. Jacob Host Players unavailable: Gareth Widdop (knee) – Round 14 Josh Dugan (cheekbone) – Round 13 Euan Aitken (hamstring) – indefinite Drew Hutchison (knee) – season Will Matthews (hip) – indefinite Kiti Glymin (shoulder) – indefinite Levi Dodd (knee) – season
I'd love to see young Matty Dufty given a run in this game - and Jai Field. Not sure how we'd do it but it could be done. Bite the bullet on McCrone - he is not the future - they are !
How they can argue we are favourites - because of history - when we have perhaps our top 3 attacking players out - is beyond me. I know the forwards are more than a match - but the NZW halves are a great pair.
and I would like to see Mann on the wing with Nene on the bench, Nona in the halves to but its not likely to happen unfortunately. Both our selections may get a run during the Bye after which some of our regulars may be fit enough to ask for their spots back rather than have a game in the Cutters first. We have some young guys but through either injury or "nerves" wont be ready for the top grade until 2018 by which time unless the Dragons have signed them they could be looking elsewhere
Mary pulled one out of the box and promoted Fi Fi Loa to the top side. The game was looking pretty bland with both side just going from end to end with no flair. The Warriors got an easy try with 4 attackers against one wing defender who was the only Dragons player marking his opposite). I was very impressed with the Dragons 1st try and just as impressed with their 2nd. Not because of the points the tries got us BUT the number of offloads in the tackle that gave our attack spark. The Dragons made more draw and commit the tackler offloads in that game than all of 2016. Admittedly it was only against the Warriors however it does make our attack look good and what I have been saying our attack has needed it for a long time. For the Warriors the game shoulda, coulda been a lot closer BUT too many basic errors and incomplete or missed tackles. The Dragons defence wasn't that brilliant and the Warriors would have made a good game of it without the errors.