2025 R1 Sat - St Geo Illa 20-28 Canterbury @ Netstrata Jubilee

[League Unlimited News]

NRL 2025 - Round 1
St George Illawarra Dragons v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Carlton / Bidjigal (TICKETS)

Saturday 8 March 2025
Kickoff 5:30pm AEDT
Live on Fox, Kayo

1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Mathew Feagai 3. Moses Suli 4. Valentine Holmes 5. Christian Tuipulotu 6. Kyle Flanagan 7. Lachlan Ilias 8. Toby Couchman 9. Damien Cook 10. Emre Guler 11. Luciano Leilua 12. Jaydn Su'A 13. Jack de Belin
14. Jacob Liddle 15. Ryan Couchman 16. Raymond Faitala-Mariner 17. Hamish Stewart
18. Dylan Egan 19. Tyrell Sloan 20. Lyhkan King-Togia 21. Loko Jnr Pasifiki Tonga 22. Tom Eisenhuth

1. Connor Tracey 2. Blake Wilson 3. Bronson Xerri 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Marcelo Montoya 6. Matt Burton 7. Toby Sexton 8. Max King 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Samuel Hughes 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Jacob Preston 13. Kurt Mann
14. Bailey Hayward 15. Sitili Tupouniua 16. Harry Hayes 17. Jaeman Salmon
19. Blake Taaffe 20. Kurtis Morrin 21. Daniel Suluka-Fifita 22. Luke Smith 23. Ratu Rinakama

Referee: Todd Smith​ Sideline Officials: Dave Munro, Belinda Sharpe​ Video Referee: Grant Atkins​

HEAD TO HEAD - 1999 - 2024​

	TOTAL	SGI	CBY	DRAWN
ALL MATCHES	46	17	29	0
NETSTRATA	8	3	5	0

LAST FIVE MEETINGS​

YEAR	ROUND	RESULT	VENUE	CROWD
2021	Round 14	CBY 28-6	ANZ	17382
2022	Round 12	SGI 34-24	Belmore	16991
2023	Round 9	CBY 18-16	WIN	16678
2024	Round 12	CBY 44-12	Accor	15442
2024	Round 23	CBY 28-10	Netstrata	18416

BIGGEST WINS​

YEAR	ROUND	RESULT	VENUE	CROWD
2018	Round 24	CBY 38-0	Jubilee Stadium	12436
2019	Round 5	SGI 40-4	Netstrata	13409

NEXT FOUR MATCHES​

	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5
ST GEO ILLA	SOU (H)	BYE	MEL (H)	PAR (A)
CANTERBURY	GLD (H)	PAR (A)	CRO (A)	NEW (H)

 

[0neye]

 

[This Year?]

If Saints lose this game Cookie, Val, Gutho and Ilias will go from preseason heroes to regular season zeros and I'll be saltier than the dead sea.

 

[JamesRustle]

Flanno Jnr and the rest of the team will be rubbing deep heat on their snoz's pre game, to ward off those filthy merkins in blue and white from their depraved urgings to suck on noses.

Dragons to thump last seasons over achievers.

 

[Valheru]

Dragons in a bit of an ambush

 

[Vic Mackey]

Buying into trial form will see a simailr result to tipping the warriors over raiders. I listened to Willie Mason during the week who said Wayne Bennett cared less about trials then any coach he had, wouldnt even give them a gameplan, so not putting much emphassis on the Charity Sheild.

Dogs have gone the small pack again with no props on the bench. Might work against Saints whos middle is grose but think they'll need some big boppers on the bench sooner rather then later. Saints seem to have a lot of good vibes, ceraintly patting themselves on the back alot early. They have 3 home games to start the year and youd think would want to win 2 of them. Ive tipped Dogs more on faith then anything.

Berries by 8.

 

[Woody90]

Tipped Dragons. They usually start well.

 

[Comfy]

Dragons in a bit of an ambush

every time you pick us, we lose. please stop it

 

[Valheru]

every time you pick us, we lose. please stop it

Factually incorrect

 

[Comfy]

Factually incorrect

will see if the jinx is broken in 2025

 

[2010Dragons]

If Saints lose this game Cookie, Val, Gutho and Ilias will go from preseason heroes to regular season zeros and I'll be saltier than the dead sea.

If the mighty Dragons want to make a statement then they should put 13+ on the biting filthy flea dogs. This is the revenge “bite-gate “ game…I’ve been waiting for over the offseason.

 

[MrBlack]

Over hyped dogs to get their pants pull down by the Dragons ambush

 

[Grapple]

Disappointed that this is our first game.

Not sure what they were thinking bringing two clubs so close together and genuine heartfelt compassion towards each other, so early on. Seems kinda weird.

I just hope my bros at St George play well and enjoy the experience and it's a fair fight. Let's remember the morris twins on this occasion and not worry about any win St George might get. It's only round 1.

 

[Warrimoo3]

Gutho in a Saints jersey. It just doesn’t look right . A massive upgrade in defence from Sloan . But a massive downgrade in speed. A pure footballer though and gives them an extra fulcrum in attack when he plays as an extra five eighth .

A question mark over the Saints halves though. Not sure about their forwards either . Guler was a useful bench player at the Raiders with good size , but how many minutes can he punch out as a starter ?RF
M has too many errors in him. The one thing I do like is the Cook/Liddle rotation. Will have the Bulldog forwards retreating . Apparently one of them was a beach sprinter. Should come up at least once in the commentary.

I was looking at the Bulldogs list and almost spilt my coffee when I saw no. 5. Marcelo Montoya. To replace the Fox. Like trading in your Ferrari for a Nissan cube. If only Ciraldo carried around some spare phone chargers in his pocket.


The Bulldogs will appreciate Kurt Mann’s darts from dummy half . And guaranteed they will play for 80. Will kick behind Tuipolatu who ,like most big men ,has a wide and slow turning circle.

I’m most interested to see what happens when Crichton and Flanagan come together. Could get interesting. And will Val Holmes turn back the clock? And will the Saints’ faithful embrace the “Gutherina?”

For some reason the Saints bring their “C” game and the Bulldogs their “A” game when these teams meet. Despite changes in players and staff. One of the vagaries of Rugby League. It has to be a mental thing.

The Bulldogs by 8 in a tense affair.

 

[Someone2]

Dragons by 12

 

[_snafu_]

View attachment 99368

 

[0neye]

SNAFU said

 

[chrisD]

Where the Hood At is the extreme homophobic DMX song, even if they don't use that part I hope that's not a reoccurring promo.

 

[Wb1234]

Weather is overcast but kogarah looks good packed like this

 

[Fangs]

Tough one to pick.

I'll back Dogs D here.