The St George Illawarra Dragons will face the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at PointsBet Stadium on Saturday, August 6. This is your Round 21 game guide.
Local derby
It's time for round two of the local derby and the Dragons are out for revenge as they look to reclaim the Monty Porter Foundation Memorial Trophy.
The Dragons fell to the Sharks back in March this year, but a lot has changed since that encounter. Compared to the last time they faced off, they're have been eight positional changes in the Dragons' line-up for this weekend which could be the difference.
With Saturday's match played at Shark Park, the win would taste even better upsetting the home side on their own turf.
Important two points
With just five matches remaining it's clear that it's now or never for the Red V.
The Dragons are clinging to the top eight by the skin of their teeth and can't afford many more losses. A win over the Sharks would be a massive boost towards a potential finals appearance with other teams in contention all facing tough matchups.
Gen 3 Shark to debut
Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Kade Dykes is set to debut for the Sharks and become a rare third-generation footballer.
Dykes comes into the Cronulla team in place of the injured Will Kennedy who is expected to miss up to six weeks with an ankle injury. In other Sharks news, Braden Hamlin-Uele comes into the starting side with Braydon Trindall named on the bench.
Workhorse Blocka
Local junior Blake Lawrie has been in a rich vein of form over the last two months and posting some impressive numbers.
The tireless front-rower has averaged 133 running meters across the last seven games and broken the 200-metre mark twice on top of a mountain of work defensively.
When you consider the fact Lawrie has achieved all this in under 50 minutes a match, the feat becomes even more impressive.
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