By Mary Maidiotis
St George Illawarra Dragons second-rower Will Matthews is anticipating a challenge as his side looks to fly across the Tasman to face the New Zealand Warriors at Westpac Stadium, Wellington on Saturday.
The Kyogle Turkeys junior picked up a try on the weekend against the Newcastle Knights as the Red V put an end to their losing streak in front of a home-crowd at WIN Jubilee, Kogarah.
The squad will now head into camp as they take on back-to-back away games in Wellington and Brisbane before returning to Wollongong in round 24.
Matthews, 27, believes the time away will be good for the team as they continue to build off their win and begin a positive roll towards the finals.
“It was a bit of a rollercoaster against the Knights, we started well and they came back strongly so it was pleasing to put those points on them in the second half, it shows good signs as we needed that win pretty badly,” said Matthews.
“Mary told us to get back to the footy we were playing earlier in the year and to play a bit smarter.
“We were giving away too many yardage penalties and too much easy possession, so we had to cut that out and we’d be right.
“My try was a matter of right place, right time, a bit of a loose ball spilt on the ground and I was there, you take them as you can I suppose.
“I love playing at Kogarah, it’s a great ground and all the fans get there, they seem to give us a lift.
“It’s always a challenge going over to New Zealand, the crowd gets behind them and they play a brand of footy that is hard to control so it’s going to be a tough match.
“It’s what we need at the moment, to be together in camp and I think if we get a good win over there it will definitely set us up for the back end of the season.”
