Dragons prepared for Sydney Roosters Anzac Day test
Dragons Den
Leading the charge: Paul Vaughan has been among the Dragons best throughout their four-game winning streak. Picture: AAP Image/Dean Lewins.
The St George Illawarra Dragons don't need to be told they face a challenge on Thursday afternoon.
Like most within rugby league circles, Dragons players are labelling the Sydney Roosters the NRL's benchmark through the opening six weeks of the season.
But while some may view Thursday's Anzac Day clash as a daunting prospect, the Dragons are viewing it as an opportunity.
An opportunity to make a statement on the biggest stage of the regular season.
Given the importance of Thursday's match, Dragons co-captain Tyson Frizell is confident his teammates will turn up ready to fire at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
"It's such a privilege to be able to play on this day," Frizell said from Hyde Park War Memorial.
"All us players circle it in the calendar and want to be a part of it. Both teams really rise to the occasion and what it means to be able to play on that day.
"We get to play out on the SCG this year, I've only played out there a couple of times and never played in front of a packed stadium there. It will be pretty special to go out there and play."
After a slow start to the year, the Dragons have turned their season around with four-straight wins to climb to sixth on the ladder and ensure this week's match will be a high-quality clash between two in-form teams.
Leading the charge throughout the winning streak has been Paul Vaughan, the representative prop ranked third among all forwards in the NRL for running metres.
Heading into his third Anzac Day match, Vaughan is looking forward to another challenging encounter against what he described as an international-calibre team.
"They've got a great forward pack there," Vaughan said. "With Hargreaves, Siosiua Taukeiaho, he's an absolute beast. You look across the whole park and it's like an international team from one to 13, even one to 17.
"It's been well documented that we've been down a couple of players at the start of the season, so as a forward pack, we've got a massive job to do.
"It's going to be one of those games where it's going to be a tight one, both forward packs are going to be getting stuck into other other.
"It's going to be one of those games where if we can get the upper hand throughout the middle, it will let the backs do the ball playing."
The Dragons face a limited preparation for the crucial game, having
survived a gruelling clash with Manly in Wollongong on Saturday night.
To Frizell, that short turnaround makes it even more crucial that St George Illawarra get their preparation right.
"The Roosters are probably the standout team in terms of their performances so far," Frizell said. "We can't really worry about them too much this week, we've got a short preparation.
"In a short preparation you need to really focus on yourselves as a team. They're going to be up for the game and we're going to be up for the game, we're really looking forward to it."
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