By Jack Clifton & Olivia Barry
The St George Illawarra Dragons Junior Representative teams will compete in their final pre-season trial fixtures at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah on Saturday.
The Illawarra Steelers will commence proceedings with both their respective Harold Matthews Cup (U16) and SG Ball (U18) teams competing against the Sydney Roosters.
“As a team we need to work on a few things defensively, but overall we’re happy with where they’re at the moment”, said Steelers Harold Matthews Coach Adam Blake.
“For our final trial we’re first going to run with the boys who have performed the best thus far in an effort to settle on our strongest team for the competition matches that lie ahead.”
Steelers SG Ball Assistant Coach Dan Hunt shared these sentiments.
“Our game this week against the Roosters will be a big test for us as they will be coming at us hard, fast and often, and are going to be throwing a lot of footy at us as we’ve seen in previous years,” said Hunt.
“We’ve got a really good bunch of young men together and we’re looking forward to watching these boys step up and hopefully give this competition a good shake.”
The Steelers Harold Matthews Cup team will compete at 9.00am with the Steelers SG Ball team to follow at 10.30am.
The St George Dragons take over proceedings thereafter with both their respective Harold Matthews Cup (U16) and SG Ball (U18) teams competing against the North Sydney Bears.
“We’re aiming for an improved defence, primarily through better control of the rucks,” said Dragons Harold Matthews Cup Coach Graeme Wynn.
Dragons SG Ball Cup Coach Brad Liggins said that the focus for his team this week will again be attitude in defence and improved ball control.
“Our first priority will be our attitude in defence,” said Liggins.
“We’ll also be looking to improve our ball control from last week’s trial against the Roosters as we were poor in parts of that match.”
The Dragons Harold Matthews Cup team will compete at 12.00pm with the Steelers SG Ball team to follow at 1.30pm.
