Cowboys v Dragons preview

v BYE at

Premiers looking to bounce back against re-invigorated Dragons defence.

Coming into this clash few anticipated the Dragons would be the last-start winners, but here we are! The Cowboys will be bruised and smarting from last Friday's last-gasp loss to 2015 runners-up Brisbane and will be keen to get back to winning ways in front of a home crowd. With a nervous win over Cronulla in Round 1 backed up by a shellacking of the Roosters a fortnight later, the title holders are a tough prospect in Townsville and this clash shapes no differently. Missing one of their grand final players for the first time this season in Kane Linnett, the premiers have bought in rookie Javid Bowen for a backline spot and will be looking to integrate him straight into a side gunning for back-to-back premierships.

The visitors St George Illawarra are on the opening leg of a three-stage tour of Queensland - in the following weeks they head to Brisbane and Robina, but their focus first up is the premiers. The Dragons come into the clash on a brace of wins - two defensive-oriented efforts where the boys in the Red V scraped home by two points in both instances. The calibre of their opposition is also of note - a severely understrength South Sydney and a similarly injury-hit Penrith who are struggling for form. In the opening two rounds they challenged a near full-strength Storm before falling badly against Cronulla. The away side also welcomes back Benji Marshall after missing two weeks with a hamstring strain - which should help bolster their attack. Maybe.

Last meeting: Round 17 2015 - Dragons 12 Cowboys 18

The record between these two sides is relatively balanced - after 26 clashes the Cowboys hold a slight 14-12 advantage, although the home side tonight has won four of the last five matches dating back to 2012 - which is incidentally the last time these sides met at 1300Smiles Stadium.

Who to watch: Lachlan Coote's form for the Cowboys has been patchy and with Widdop known for putting up a bomb or two, his steadiness from the back and willingness to attack the ball from kicks will be key to a Cowboys victory tonight. His ability to inject himself into the attack is also unquestioned - but the application needs to be there too. If Thurston and Morgan can create enough space on the back of the Cowboys big forward pack, the Dragons will struggle to contain Coote.

Benji being back changes a fair bit for the Dragons - who have yet to score more than 16 points in a match this season, despite two wins. While the Red V defence has come in for plenty of praise in the last fortnight, they need to start finding the tryline to become a serious shot at playing finals footy this year, or they'll start losing the big games and find themselves in an uphill battle as teams find their weaknesses and go in for the kill. Marshall's passing game is crucial to this contest - I think the Dragons will need to crack at least 20 points to get a victory tonight.

The favourite: The Cowboys are at home and have a good recent record, so they hold the favourites tag comfortably.

My tip: It's really hard to go past the Cowboys. Even with a brick-wall defence there is too much class in the home side's arsenal to not tip them to overcome the Dragons tonight. Cowboys by 14.

1. Lachlan Coote 2. Kyle Feldt 3. Justin O'Neill 4. Javid Bowen 5. Antonio Winterstein 6. Michael Morgan 7. Johnathan Thurston 8. Matthew Scott 14. Rory Kostjasyn 10. James Tamou 11. Gavin Cooper 12. Ethan Lowe 13. Jason Taumalolo
Interchange: 9. Jake Granville 15. John Asiata 16. Scott Bolton 17. Ben Hannant

1. Josh Dugan 2. Peter Mata'utia 3. Euan Aitken 4. Timoteo Lafai 5. Jason Nightingale 6. Gareth Widdop 7. Benji Marshall 8. Leeson Ah Mau 9. Mitch Rein 10. Russell Packer 11. Tyson Frizell 12. Joel Thompson 13. Jack de Belin
Interchange: 14. Michael Cooper 15. Will Matthews 16. Siliva Havili 17. Jake Marketo

Referees: Ben Cummins, Gavin Reynolds; Sideline Officials: Adam Reid, Belinda Sleeman; Video Referees: Luke Patten, Jason Robinson, Bernard Sutton;