Dragons feeling comfortable again - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Dragons feeling comfortable again

Steve Jancetic 22/07/2011 06:40:57 PM Comments (0)

As they attempt to conquer their final frontier in the nation's capital, St George Illawarra winger Brett Morris claims the NRL premiers are starting to feel like their old selves again.

Having emerged from a torturous representative season to post an impressive win over Cronulla last week, Morris admitted there was a sense of normality returning to the club's Wollongong training base ahead of the run home to the finals.

While skipper Ben Hornby (hand) and Dean Young (knee) remain on the injured list and Ben Creagh was laid low by the flu, the Dragons this week enjoyed a full week of training with all their representative stars on deck for the first time since mid-April.

And it has Morris confident the Dragons can topple the Raiders on Monday night, something they have not managed to do in Canberra since 2000.

"It's great to have the team back, it just feels like you're coming home, all the boys are here and it just makes training so much easier when you know what you're doing, you've got the whole squad there to train," Morris said.

"It definitely helps having those blokes inside and out that play there regularly.

"In certain situations you fall into certain plays and you just do that because you play together for so long."

Morris was certainly glad to have centre partner Matt Cooper alongside him against the Sharks on Monday night, as he scored just his second try since the first week of May.

In all, Morris has scored just four tries from 16 games in 2011, well down on his phenomenal strike rate of recent years, having scored a combined 45 tries in 2009 and 2010.

"I don't know if I'm back in tryscoring form but it was very nice to score a try," said Morris, who will play his 100th game for the Dragons on Monday night.

"I'm a bit short on the numbers this year, I think I've made more tackles than I've scored this year and I think it was the other way around last year."

While conquering his try-scoring demons remains a personal battle, Morris was at a loss to explain his side's horrendous record against the Raiders, which after last year's premiership win is now the last thing on the club's to-do list.

As well as having not won in Canberra in 11 years - where the visitors' attacking game has stalled in the chilly conditions - the Dragons have managed just one win from their last 12 contests against the green machine at any venue.

"We're not too worried about that, you can't change what's happened in the past but all the boys are really looking forward to getting down there and playing," Morris said.

"There's not too much talk about (the cold) - it's our job, we play footy and you've got to deal with those conditions.

"You can't change the weather, you're not god, you've just got to deal with the situations and adapt the best you can to them."

Brought to you by AAP AAP © 2024 AAP

0 Comments about this article

Post a comment about this article

Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.

« All sports news