The St George Illawarra Junior Representative sides will line up for their first games of the regular season on Saturday.
Both the St George and Illawarra Harold Matthews Cup (U16) and SG Ball (U18) will take to the field after an extensive pre-season of training and trial games.
The Illawarra Steelers have the luxury of starting their season at home with a game against Souths Sydney Rabbitohs at WIN Stadium, Wollongong.
Having finalised squads in the last week, having had a week break before the season, the squad of 25 will be eager to impress both coaches Adam Blake (Harold Matthews) and Shane Millard (SG Ball) after being rewarded positions in the sought after teams because of their hard work and good performances in pre-season.
A win for the Steelers team this weekend will go a long way to deciding their fate after being drawn in the more difficult side of the group in the nine round competition.
The Steelers Harold Matthew teams are first up at 3.00pm before the Steelers SG Ball sides take the field at 4.30pm.
The St George Dragons will similarly start the season at home against the North Western Suburbs Magpies at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah.
Both the Dragons Harold Matthews Cup (U16) and SG Ball Cup (U18) teams faced the Sydney Roosters a fortnight ago but were unfortunate not to win their two matches, losing 12 -20 and 20-24 respectively.
“This week’s Round 1 games will be a real challenge for our young Dragons and Steelers,” said Dragons Junior Reps Manager Neil Lovett.
“All coaches have done everything in their power to prepare their teams for what should be another exciting season of Junior Representative Rugby League.
“I can’t wait to see what future Dragons NRL champions emerge in 2015 from both the St George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers.”
The Dragons Harold Matthew teams are first up at 10.00am before the Dragons SG Ball sides take the field at 11.30am.
