Their training might suggest otherwise, but St George Illawarra are adamant they are not focused on what magic Cronulla playmaker Todd Carney can conjure up in Saturday night’s NRL local derby. The Dragons spent large portions of this week’s sessions working on methods to combat Carney, whose strong form has coincided with the Sharks putting together a three-match winning streak. The Carney-Jamie Soward match-up at Toyota Stadium has been talked up as a potential shootout for the NSW Origin No.6 jumper, but the Dragons’ concerns are far more immediate as they look to rebound from last week’s loss to Brisbane. “It’s going to be a good match-up for the fans. For us, we’re just worried about what we’re doing – we’re not worried about what Todd’s doing,” Dragons skipper Ben Hornby said. “We’ve got to shut down his time as much as we can – (but) it’s more about the team performance for us.” Shutting down Carney’s time will come down to the Dragons big men in the middle, who took part in a long tutorial with Dragons assistant coach Craig Young at training as they imitated Carney’s movements. “He’s a key player for them – we’ve just got to be aware of him at the ruck,” Dragons prop Jeremy Latimore said. “They drop their back-rowers into the middle as well and Todd’s a constant threat – we’ve just got to be on our toes. “There’s no room to be lazy out there. That’s something Pricey (coach Steve Price) is trying to make us aware of.” The Sharks head into the encounter in strong form, trailing the fifth-placed Dragons by just five points on for-and-against differential. But a veteran of many local derbies, Cronulla skipper Paul Gallen said the momentum built up over the past few weeks would count for little on Saturday night. “Form in the local derbies normally goes out the window so we’re not thinking about what we’ve done the past three weeks and I’m sure the Dragons aren’t thinking about what they’ve done either,” Gallen said. “It’s a pretty intense battle. It’s pumped up by all the people in the area and the big crowd.” The Sharks head into the encounter buoyed by securing a sponsor for the remainder of the 2012 season, having played the opening five rounds with a blank jersey.
