Warriors vs St George Illawarra Dragons Prediction, Tips & Odds

The Warriors are sailing along in second and head into a home assignment against the last-placed Dragons as short-priced favourites.  

FORM: The Warriors bounced back from three narrow losses in their previous four games to dispose of the Tigers 32-6 at Campbelltown last Friday.  

The Dragons have discovered some backbone over their past five outings, bookending honourable losses to the Sharks, Knights and Raiders with strong wins over the Broncos and Tigers.  

INS AND OUTS: Origin forwards Mitch Barnett and Kurt Capewell are back for the Warriors, along with star winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who pushes Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad out of the side.  

The Dragons are unchanged, though Moses Suli is included on the bench after a NSW Cup return in Round 18. 

KEY MATCH-UP: Former Warriors lower-grader Setu Tu will be on high alert opposite tryscoring machine Alofiana-Khan Pereira.  

HISTORY: The Warriors have won five of their last six against the Dragons, including a 30-12 victory at Kogarah in Round 12.  

KEY STAT: The Saints’ last victory at Mount Smart Stadium was in 2011.  

VERDICT: The Warriors were solid enough off the bye in the first match of a stretch against struggling teams, which provides them with an excellent chance of cementing a top-two finish.  

But they’ll want to tidy up their discipline with and without the ball – which was uncharacteristically sloppy against the Tigers. On the plus side, they only have Jackson Ford left to come back into the likely first-choice 17 that Andrew Webster will take into the playoffs.  

The Dragons have providing some encouraging signs lately, but their promising pack of greenhorns are likely to struggle against the Warriors’ menacing engine-room. The Warriors have a habit of tying themselves up in knots at their Mount Smart fortress at times, but this shapes as a comfortable win. 

Prediction: Back the Warriors to Cover the Line (-15.5) @ $1.83 

SGM: WARRIORS BY 11-20 / UNDER 47.5 TOTAL POINTS / ALOFIANA KHAN-PEREIRA TO SCORE 2 OR MORE TRIES / JACOB LABAN ANYTIME TRYSCORER @ $163.49