Five things: Round 10 v Knights
The St George Illawarra Dragons travel to Mudgee's Glen Willow Stadium to take on the Newcastle Knights in a crucial Round 10 clash. Below are five things to know before the Dragons kick-off on Sunday, May 19 at 2pm.
Back to Mudgee
The Dragons will apply their trade in front of a passionate Mudgee contingent for the fourth time since 2018. The only NRL Telstra Premiership game of the lot came against the Canberra Raiders in Round 11, 2018. With the scores locked at 10-all at half-time, the Dragons came home strong to win 25-18.
Their most recent game was against the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the 2019 Westfund Charity Shield; the score line falling out of reach for the Dragons with the Rabbitohs winning 36-24.
Double Dragon
When St George Illawarra travel to Mudgee, they won't be the only Dragons in town. The local Mudgee rugby league team is known as the Mudgee Dragons and compete in the Group 10 competition.
The Mudgee Dragons are enjoying a strong start to their season, sitting second on the ladder after losing just once in five games. Hopefully their winning ways transfer to St George Illawarra Dragons ahead of Sunday.
Glen Willow Stadium
Sunday's match will take place Glen Willow Oval, Mudgee. Officially opened in April 2012, the oval has hosted six games since 2012 (two City-Country fixtures, two Charity Shields and two NRL games).
The 10,000 seat ground has been near-capacity each time and another capacity crowd is expected to turn out on Sunday.
Knights to the sword
You don’t have to stretch your memory back far to remember the last time the Dragons came up against the Knights. A Corey Norman field goal was the only thing separating the pair in an extra-time thriller, also continuing a rich vein of success over the Hunter-based side.
The Dragons have won eight of the last 10 matches against the Knights and overall, have won 27 of 38 games played. However, the Knights are a chance of winning four matches in a row if they trump the Dragons on Sunday, a feat they haven’t achieved since the opening four rounds of 2015.
Hunt v Pearce
Two storied Origin halves meet once again in the NRL arena. Hunt and Pearce have played plenty of games each for their state but question marks hang over whether they will make an appearance in the 2019 series.
The same was said in their Round 4 clash with Hunt getting the better of Pearce and helping the Dragons to a tight one-point win. In their final regular season meeting for the year, keep an eye on who comes out on top.
