The St George Illawarra Dragons National Youth Competition team will commence their season against the Melbourne Storm at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah on Monday.
The Young Dragons finished their NYC campaign in fourth position on the table and qualified for the Finals Series only to fall just shy of a Grand Final berth.
Head Coach Ben Hornby will take the reigns as mentor this season having co-coached with Dean Young last term and is looking forward to what lies ahead this season.
"The entire playing squad has trained extremely hard these past four months during the off-season and they should all be proud of their efforts," said Hornby.
"We welcome back a lot of familair faces who were involved last season and having that extra year of maturity will be able to guide our new additions to the team.
"We have several graduates from our St George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers SG Ball teams in the midst as well and have good depth in all our key areas.
"The players have trainied well this week in the build-up to our opening match and understand they will be coming up against a Storm side who will be just as hungry to start their year with two points."
