Round 5, 2021: St George Illawarra 26 Parramatta 12

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Eels v Dragons: Matterson named; Bird back from ban

Two high-flying teams come together on Sunday evening with neither having tasted a loss since the Dragons' defeat to Cronulla back in round one.

Parramatta survived an Easter Monday scare against Wests Tigers to move to 4-0 alongside Penrith at the top of the ladder while the Dragons capitalised on an unfortunate injury toll to the Knights to record their third straight win.

The Eels are 2-0 at their Bankwest Stadium fortress so far this year but the Dragons took the points away last time they were here in round 14 last year.

The rundown
Team news
Eels: The club has taken a cautious approach to Ryan Matterson following a head knock but he is poised to return in the back row, pushing Isaiah Papali’i to the bench.

After returning from a broken jaw via the NSW Cup last week, Bryce Cartwright is set to make his club debut off the interchange with Keegan Hipgrave and Ray Stone both making way.

The Eels are aiming for a 5-0 start for the second consecutive season.

Dragons: Jack Bird will return at centre from a one-game suspension, with Brayden Wiliame dropping to the bench and Jackson Ford to 18th man.

Forwards Trent Merrin (150th club) and Daniel Alvaro (100th NRL) will play milestone games.

Key match-up
Reed Mahoney v Andrew McCullough: The Eels' No.9 has snuck under the radar as one of the form players of the competition after four rounds. His passing and kicking games have blossomed this year and he has been among his side's three best players every game so far.

Tackle-machine McCullough has been a critical cog for the Red V, providing reliable service to the forwards and proving an astute recruit so far.

Stat Attack
The Dragons got the win last week despite making 16 errors against just seven from their opponents; they can't afford to do that again if they want to topple the co-ladder leaders on their home patch.

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Dragons knock Eels out of top four with fourth straight win

Do the St George Illawarra fans dare start dreaming?

The defiant Dragons handed the Eels a 26-12 loss – their first of the season – on Sunday night to record four straight wins for the first time since 2019 and replace Parramatta in the top four.

Dynamic fullback Matt Dufty starred with two tries and two first-half assists for Jack Bird and Mikaele Ravalawa but the scoreboard didn't quite reflect a hard-fought contest.

The visitors led 18-0 at half-time and their goal-line defence was outstanding, finally cracking early in the second term when Tariq Sims was sin-binned for repeated infringements and Isaiah Papali'i crashed over.

Parramatta's sloppy execution and St George Illawarra's commitment and desire determined the result, but a couple of debatable decisions went against the Eels.

The first was Dufty being awarded an 11th-minute penalty try after he split the line from an Adam Clune inside pass and kicked ahead for himself, only to be knocked off course by Nathan Brown as he neared the in-goal area.

The Bunker ruled the speedster would have won the race to the ball, much to the chagrin of the vocal, and parochial, Bankwest Stadium crowd.

Then with 13 minutes to go, Eels captain Clint Gutherson dived under the posts following a Dylan Brown line-break but the Bunker deemed that Junior Paulo had obstructed Tyrell Fuimaono in the lead-up.

Moments later, Clune broke clear and provided Dufty with his second try to effectively seal the win despite Gutherson scoring at the end.

Building on last week's gritty victory against Newcastle, Anthony Griffin's team showed great line-speed and aggression from the get-go despite their outsider status.

They boasted a completion rate of 90% in the first half, finishing the match at 83% after errors crept into their game.

A fifth-minute error by Gutherson gave the Dragons a prime attacking opportunity and Bird soon claimed his maiden NRL try for his junior club and his first since 2019 after being put into a hole by Dufty.

The zippy custodian added his own name to the scoresheet with the penalty try and in the 32nd minute he threw a delightful left-to-right long ball for Ravalawa and the Fijian winger produced a spectacular finish.

St George Illawarra were pinged for a plethora of ruck infringements to begin the second half – they committed nine compared to the Eels' five overall – and hurt themselves with mistakes.

But they limited the damage to Papali'i's try until Sims returned from the sin-bin in the 53rd minute before Zac Lomax added a penalty goal to provide a 14-point buffer.

Dragons players spoke earlier in the week about the squad’s tight-knit bond and that was apparent as they continually rallied to repel Parramatta.