The first of Saturday night’s NRL Round 26 matches is between St George Illawarra Dragons and New Zealand Warriors. The opening kick is set to commence at 3pm local time with the game to be played at WIN Stadium. The away team the New Zealand Warriors are the current favourites in the market. View our preview and teams for the game between St George Illawarra Dragons and New Zealand Warriors.

WIN Stadium

Saturday, 3pm

St George Illawarra Dragons $3.50 vs New Zealand Warriors $1.30 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match

St George Illawarra Dragons $1.30 vs New Zealand Warriors $1.00 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by NRL Odds:

St George Illawarra Dragons	3.50	3.70	4.10	3.70	3.50	N/A
New Zealand Warriors	1.30	1.28	1.25	1.28	1.30	N/A

Preview:

St. George’s worrying season hit a new low last week when they were defeated by the soon-to-be Wooden Spooners Parramatta 26 – 22.

It was the sixth loss in a row and followed an embarrassing 34 – 18 defeat at the hands of West Tigers the week before.

Dragon’s Coach Steve Price stated the obvious after last week’s loss that his team have ‘lost our way to winning at the moment’.

It’ll be hard for them to find the way up against a New Zealand side that is in the middle of four team battle for one of the final spots available in the top eight.

Warriors are on 26 competition points, equal with Titans (v Melbourne) and Cowboys (v West Tigers) and, only one point behind 7th placed Newcastle (v Parramatta).

The Warriors, who have a negative for and against, need to win – preferably by a big margin, and hope the West Tigers can cause a boil-over up in Townsville.

The Warriors prepped themselves well for this game last week with a commanding 50 – 16 point win over Canberra.

St. George has won the last five against the Warriors and whilst they’ll be out to salvage some pride, their form is just too poor at present.

The Warriors can’t afford to leave anything in the tank and should win – by a decent margin.

Teams:

St George Illawarra Dragons:
Jason Nightingale, Brett Morris, Chase Stanley, Charly Runciman, Daniel Vidot, Adam Quinlan, Nathan Fien, Jack Stockwell, Mitch Rein, Ben Creagh (c), Tyson Frizell, Leeson Ah Mau, Jack de Belin. Interchange: Matt Prior, Michael Weyman, Bronson Harrison, Josh Drinkwater, Will Matthews (one to be omitted).

New Zealand Warriors:
Kevin Locke, Jerome Ropati, Dane Nielsen, Konrad Hurrell, Manu Vatuvei, Thomas Leuluai, Shaun Johnson, Sam Rapira, Nathan Friend, Suaia Matagi, Elijah Taylor, Simon Mannering, Todd Lowrie. Interchange: Ben Matulino, Jacob Lillyman, Feleti Mateo, Dominique Peyroux, Ngani Laumape, Sio Siua Taukeiaho (two to be omitted).

Referees: Jared Maxwell, Henry Perenara.

Coaches following same path to NRL glory

They are two of the youngest coaches in the game and their routes to the NRL have followed almost identical paths – now Michael Maguire and Trent Robinson will watch their sides battle it out in the biggest club game for years on Friday.

The pair had limited success as players with South Sydney mentor Maguire clocking up just 16 appearances as a utility back in a five-year career with Canberra and the Adelaide Rams.

Sydney Roosters coach Robinson played only four games over three seasons with the Wests Tigers and Parramatta.

However, the pair are seen as two of the sharpest minds in rugby league – with the winner of the ANZ Stadium clash taking home the minor premiership and a huge psychological advantage heading into the finals series.

Maguire was a long-time assistant to Craig Bellamy at Melbourne before heading to the UK in 2010 where he revived the fortunes of English giants Wigan.

In his first season he ended the Warriors’ 10-year wait for a Super League grand final with a 22-10 victory over a Mick Potter-coached St Helens and in his second guided the team to Challenge Cup final success.

South Sydney chairman Nick Pappas said the appointment of Maguire was one of the most important decisions in the club’s recent history.

“Credit has to go to Shane Richardson for identifying Michael as the right man for the job,” Pappas told AAP.

“I went over to meet him in London I was hugely impressed by what he had to say. He is a very driven individual.”

Like his rival, Robinson served his apprenticeship as an assistant to Brian Smith at Newcastle and the Roosters before turning the Catalans from perennial Super League strugglers into successive top-four finishers to earn him the coach of the year award in 2011.

He also held the edge over Maguire in the Super League in the one season they faced each other with his side winning both regular season fixtures.

However, Maguire had the last laugh with a thumping 44-0 win in the 2011 preliminary final and his Souths team ran out 28-10 winners in this season’s opening game.

“We’ve both had wins and losses in our games,” Robinson said.

“He’s a great coach, very well disciplined and he’s shown what he’s made of over the last few years in this competition. I enjoy coaching against him.”