St George Illawarra return to Kogarah's Netstrata Jubilee Stadium to host the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles on Friday, July 22. Here is your Round 19 game day guide.
The TripADeal Cup
Friday's clash will also provide the inaugural clash of the TripADeal Cup.
The key apparel sponsor of both the St George Illawarra Dragons and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles will give two lucky fans the game day experience of a lifetime.
One fan from each team will be chosen from the crowd and upgraded to a special VIP area to observe the game in style.
At the end of the game the fan of the winning side will also walk away with a $1000 travel prize courtesy of TripADeal.
Make sure you're in the crowd this Friday night to be selected.
St George Illawarra Dragons v Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah
General public gates – 5pm
NRL kick-off - Dragons v Sea Eagles – 6pm
Centre of change
The Dragons have lost one player to injury while welcoming back an enforcer from suspension.
Centre Moses Suli (syndesmosis injury) is replaced by Moses Mbye, with Jayden Sullivan taking Mbye's vacant bench spot.
Tariq Sims (suspension) also returns on the bench, pushing Aaron Woods to 18th man.
Sea Eagles forwards out
The Sea Eagles will be without forwards Jake Trbojevic and Andrew Davey on Friday night due to Covid.
Toafofoa Sipley has been promoted to the starting pack and Taniela Paseka comes in on the interchange bench in a game where prop Martin Taupau will also bringup game 150 in Sea Eagles' colours.
The Dragons will still need to be wary of Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans. Off the back of a strong Origin campaign the Sea Eagles playmaker has run into a purple patch of form, credited with three try assists in his side's huge Round 18 win over the Knights.
All part of the Netstrata-gy
Well and truly in the logjam of teams battling to gain a top eight spot, a return home for back-to-back games comes at a great time for the Dragons.
St George Illawarra will play their 100th match at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium this weekend and will be hoping to utilise the home-field advantage, where they field a 59.6 per cent win rate at the ground.
The Sea Eagles currently sit at eight, two competition points ahead of the Dragons (11th) on the NRL ladder. A win will bring St George Illawarra level, with only for-and-against separating the sides.
Fast starts the key
The football gods often have fun with stats and 2022 is no different. This season the Dragons have a 100 per cent win rate when they score the first try.
It is always important for a side to get off to a good start, but it seems as though it is imperative for St George Illawarra this year as every game conceding the first try has resulted in a loss.
Look for the Dragons to start fast out of the gates against the Sea Eagles this Friday night.
