St George Illawarra haven’t beaten the Roosters outside Anzac Day since 2010
FOR the Dragons to get a win over the Roosters on Sunday they’ll have to overcome a bizarre hoodoo that has enveloped the club since 2010.
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ST GEORGE Illawarra is staring down a bizarre Anzac Day hoodoo this Sunday — 95 days after Australia’s solemn day of reverence is done.
Apart from starting TAB outsiders against the Roosters at Allianz Stadium, the Dragons are also up against a peculiar run of losses against their arch rivals from Bondi Junction that stretches way back to 2010.
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According to the Fox Sports Lab, the Red V have not beaten the Roosters outside of an Anzac Day clash in eight years.
In fact, from 2011 onwards, the Dragons have won just five of 14 in meetings against the two clubs — all of which occurred on Anzac Day.
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“Which is a weird one, definitely,” Dragons great Shaun Timmins laughed.
“But I don’t think it means too much. After all, the club has still been winning a lot of those big clashes on Anzac Day.
“And it’s certainly not like the hoodoo we had against the Canberra Raiders.
“So even though the Dragons mightn’t have had a win outside Anzac Day in a while — which is definitely a strange stat — it won’t be something they discuss.
“In fact, I think the win they had over North Queensland last week, it was a real turning point for the back half of the season. The team’s now got all of its Origin players back into the side and refreshed.
“Origin takes a lot of you both mentally and physically but the club has come out the other side now.”
Excluding Anzac Day clashes, the last time the Dragons beat the Roosters was way back in the 2010 grand final — when the joint-venture franchise smashed the Tricolours 32-8, with fullback Darius Boyd jagging the Clive Churchill medal.
Currently second behind Melbourne, the Red V can use Sunday’s game to not only end the bizarre hoodoo, but silence those critics already suggesting yet another late-season slide.
Quizzed on suggestions his old club was set for another collapse like in 2017, Timmins continued: “I know our guys learned a lot from what happened last year.
“And the High Performance staff, they’ve done a great job in terms of changing a few things up.
“Obviously the Roosters will be tough, especially coming off a massive win against Manly. They have strike power all over the park — Latrell Mitchell especially has emerged as a real threat recently while James Tedesco is also finding his feet at fullback.
“But the key will be to match them in the forwards. I’m really looking forward to the battles between guys like Tyson Frizell and Boyd Cordner, then Paul Vaughan and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.”
As home team, the Roosters have also won five of the past six matches and will be aiming for three straight wins over the Dragons. Interestingly, over the past eight matches, the Roosters have outscored the Dragons 58-8 in the 20 minutes following half time.