![](/siteassets/2017/02/2017_dragons_pre_season_training_week_13_kiwis.jpg?center=0.2%2C0.47&preset=hero-article-fill)
![](/siteassets/2017/02/2017_dragons_pre_season_training_week_13_kiwis.jpg?center=0.2%2C0.47&preset=hero-article-fill)
The St George Illawarra Dragons will boast five Kiwis in their Auckland Nines squad this weekend at Eden Park.
Joining New Zealand internationals Kalifa Faifai Loa and Siliva Havili will be young guns Taane Milne, Patrick Herbert and Levi Dodd.
Kiwis veteran Jason Nightingale will also travel across the ditch as the Dragons' emergency player.
The tournament will prove extra special for Herbert and Havili who will get their first opportunities at Nines football on February 4 and 5.
"It's big for guys like Patty Herbert," Faifai Loa said.
"It will be his first Nines. He's looking forward to it and I'm sure his family will travel down to watch their son play."
Dodd and Milne are set to play in their second Nines tournament after featuring in the 2015 edition with the Bulldogs and Roosters respectively.
Faifai Loa – who has featured at every Nines since the tournament's inception – jokingly found a downside to having so many countrymen join him back home.
"It's a bit disappointing because I'm not going to get all the tickets this year," Faifai joked.
"Hopefully one of them pulls out so I can get an extra few tickets for me and my family."