Dragons chasing rare league treble
It is a treble that has not been achieved in 19 years, with NRL premier St George Illawarra determined to cap 12 months of dominance with victory over Super League champion Wigan in next week's World Club Challenge.
Not since Brisbane in 1992 has an Australian club collected the minor premiership, premiership and WCC title - with Eastern Suburbs the only other side to complete the clean sweep when it defeated St Helens in the inaugural match-up of competition winners in 1976.
The Wayne Bennett-coached Broncos thumped Wigan 22-8 just weeks after beating St George in the 1992 premiership, and the Warriors are again standing in Bennett's way as he looks to repeat the feat with the Dragons.
With the Dragons having last week added the Charity Shield to the JJ Giltinan Shield and premiership trophy won last year, the WCC represents the final piece of silverware in what is an already bulging trophy cabinet.
"It would (complete the trophy cabinet) but obviously we've got to put the hard work in," Dragons skipper Ben Hornby said.
"To get all those would be great, but we've got to go over there and play well.
"It'd be a huge achievement - the win the NRL's a huge achievement and to beat the best over there is another achievement as well.
"I think it's pretty special and it's something we'll be going over there to take very seriously."
Beating Wigan will not be easy however, with the Super League champions to have played two club games by the time the Dragons arrive at DW Stadium on February 27, though they will be without key off-season recruits Brett Finch (neck) and Jeff Lima (suspension).
That makes Friday night's hit-out against Canterbury at Wollongong Stadium all the more vital as the Dragons look to fine-tune some combinations ahead of their trip to the UK.
Halves Hornby and Jamie Soward return after missing last week's Charity Shield win, but Test winger Brett Morris (ribs) is a likely scratching to face the Bulldogs with Peni Tagive set to get a start on the left flank.
"Last week the boys played really well so it's about going out there and trying to back that up against another good side," Hornby said.
"It's going to be tough (against the Bulldogs), they've got some blokes who have got a point to prove so it's going to be a good hit-out for us."
Only skipper Andrew Ryan, new signing Frank Pritchard and hooker Michael Ennis are missing from the Bulldogs' first-choice side, with Kris Keating and Ben Roberts to continue their battle for the number six jumper for the season opener against Wests Tigers.
