Check out the match preview and prediction for the 2025 National Rugby League round 11 clash between the Brisbane Broncos and the St George Illawarra Dragons.
MATCHDAY NEWS
MATCHDAY SCHEDULE
Brisbane Broncos Vs St George Illawarra Dragons
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Date: Sunday May 18, 2:00pm (ADST)
MATCHDAY TEAM NEWS
Broncos: 1. Selwyn Cobbo 2. Deine Mariner 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Gehamat Shibasaki 5. Jesse Arthars 6. Ezra Mam 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Patrick Carrigan 9. Billy Walters 10. Payne Haas 11. Xavier Willison 12. Jordan Riki 13. Kobe Hetherington 14. Cory Paix 15. Corey Jensen 16. Brendan Piakura 17. Fletcher Baker 18. Tyson Smoothy 19. Josiah Karapani 20. Martin Taupau 21. Jaiyden Hunt 22. Delouise Hoeter
Dragons:1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Tyrell Sloan 3. Moses Suli 4. Valentine Holmes 5. Corey Allan 6. Kyle Flanagan 7. Lyhkan King-Togia 8. Jack de Belin 9. Damien Cook 10. David Klemmer 11. Dylan Egan 12. Jaydn Su’A 13. Hamish Stewart 14. Jacob Liddle 15. Luciano Leilua 16. Loko Jnr Pasifiki Tonga 17. Blake Lawrie 18. Nathan Lawson 19. Hame Sele 20. Lachlan Ilias 21. Raymond Faitala-Mariner 22. Michael Molo
Referee: Gerard Sutton
Bunker: Ashley Klein
MATCHDAY PREVIEW
This is a clash between two sides on the rebound.
After a humbling Magic Round loss to Penrith, Brisbane looked to have set things right against South Sydney, leading 14-0 at half-time. But they didn’t score a point in the second half as Latrell Mitchell scored 14 on his own. His two-point field goal from halfway put Souths in-front for the first time and his sneaky dummy half try in the final seconds sealed the Broncos’ 22-14 capitulation: they should have been sitting just outside the top four, but now they’ve fallen to seventh.
St George Illawarra had the opposite experience to Brisbane but still came up short: they trailed 14-0 after 30 minutes but only took 13 minutes to erase that deficit. Unfortunately for the Dragons, they went scoreless for the next 29 minutes as Luke Metcalf (who scored 11 of the Warriors’ 15 points) kicked a one-point field goal as the Warriors won 15-14. With only three wins so far, the inconsistent Dragons are slowly losing touch with the mid-table pack that’s pushing for a finals position.
Unfortunately, the “Ben Hunt Cup” will have to wait until next year: he won’t play against his old side after injuring his hamstring against Souths – and will be out for at least a month. The bigger news is Ezra Mam’s return at five-eighth. He played 47 minutes (and scored a try) in Souths Logan’s 66-10 Queensland Cup win over the Western Clydesdales last weekend, which was seemingly enough for Broncos coach Michael Maguire. Xavier Willison named in the back row and Brendan Piakura is on the bench. For the Dragons, Jack de Belin replaces the injured Toby Couchman, with Blake Lawrie on the bench.
Brisbane and the pre-merger St George Dragons had a big rivalry in the ’90s (with Brisbane beating the Dragons in the 1992 and 1993 NSWRL Grand Finals), and that’s carried over in the NRL era: Brisbane lead the head-to-head 25-21 since 1998. The Dragons won their only clash in round 19, 2024 (30-26 at Suncorp Stadium). The joint venture led 28-6 early in the second half as Christian Tuipulotu completed his hat-trick. Kotoni Staggs finished with 14 points (two tries and three goals) as the Broncos’ comeback fell short – a Kyle Flanagan penalty goal in the 70th minute (his fifth goal of the night) gave the Dragons enough of a buffer. The Dragons have won seven of their last nine against Brisbane. The Broncos have one of the worst records (4-3) when scoring the first try, but the Dragons are 0-4 when conceding the opening try.
This is also a rare day game for the Broncos, and their record isn’t good: they’ve lost six day games in a row and five straight on Sundays.
Though the Dragons’ record isn’t inspiring either: they’ve only won four out of their last 17 Sunday games (and 1-9 away from home), and they’ve lost their last four away games in Queensland on a Sunday.
While both sides will want to go into their round 12 byes with a win, expect Brisbane to redeem themselves back at home on Sunday afternoon and get back in touch with the top four.
MATCHDAY PREDICTION
Broncos by 14 points.
Check out our round 11 predictions here.
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