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Strong looking team capable of winning but the Cowboys with Morgan and JT will be formidable.
Yeh Mary and the journos can keep believing all they like that we only got win 7 to make the semis.KICKOFF: Dragons caught in the must-win game
Local Sport
CRUNCH TIME: "A loss to the Cowboys at home on Friday and you can almost put a line through the Dragons finals hopes." Picture: NRL Photos
WELL, it's here, arrived like it does every year at some stage - a 'must win game'.
Strange phenomenon the MWG. It pops up at various stages of the year, sometimes as early as round one: "We're on the road for three of our next four so it's must-win for us at home to start us off."
It has familiar ring to it yes? It's fickle, the MWG. It seems to simply appear out of nowhere, often when a coach or captain feels the need to create a sense of urgency in his side. For example, you could well hear Craig Bellamy refer to his side's Friday night clash with the Roosters as must win. Roosters coach Trent Robinson might feel the same - though he says very little at all these days.
Sometimes a match can appear to be a MWG but, when a loss follows, we learn that it wasn't really MWG at all. Like most things in rugby league, it's largely semantics. True, not all wins in this competition are created equal, they are equally important. As is each loss.
There are certain cases where it does ring true, like it does for the Dragons this Friday. A loss to the Cowboys at home and you can almost put a line through their finals hopes. Paul McGregor is certainly awake to that fact.
He stated after his side's loss to Manly last weekend that "seven of our last 11" is task they're facing in order to reach the finals. Even reaching that magic 12-win mark that's traditionally earned a finals spot could see a team fall short.
The Dragons did exactly that in 2017, famously failing to make it 13 wins against Canterbury in round 26 to miss the post-season. In any case, whenever you have to start doing the maths it indicates things aren't on their ideal course.
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It doesn't suggest they aren't salvageable, and in the current season more so than past. The injuries that have plagued most clubs at different stages, and the fluctuating results they've produced, has kept a lot of sides in the finals race longer than they might have been in the past.
The Dragons have been as hard as any with the injury bat given the number of stars they've been without at various stages of this season. Kickoff won't rattle the who and whens again but absences have been significant.
It also means the inclusions - the likes of James Graham and Gareth Widdop - down the track will be even more significant. They'll need to win a string of MWG's to ensure that's the case, starting with Friday's clash with the Cowboys in Wollongong.
They then face top four sides the Storm, Raiders, Rabbitohs and Roosters in their last 10 games. It's a tough run for any side, let alone one that must theoretically win every one of the other seven to reach the finals. A loss to the Cowboys on Friday and the eqaution gets a lot easier, the task becomes near impossible.
As we say in the trade, it's a MWG.
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/6242511/kickoff-dragons-caught-in-must-win-game/?cs=302
Our only real hope is that we lose every game for the rest of the year. Then maybe just maybe we will lose the bald headed imbecile. Pretty sad when that’s what you wish for as a dragons fan.
Refs will be lenient on them and Mary won't say a word, good bloke to the end, whenever that is.
Won't happen 77.
As I said classic Mary
Can't see it Crush IMO we are a goner ....
