By Billie Eder
According to skipper Isabelle Kelly, the Roosters played their “worst game to date” when they lost to the Raiders last week.
And the Tricolours will need to pull something out of the bag to beat a St George Illawarra side steered by their former halfback Raecene McGregor on Thursday night.
Dragons coach Jamie Soward said he had never seen a halfback like McGregor in the NRLW before. Her kicking game led the Red V to their first victory of the season last week.
“I haven’t seen another No.7 in NRLW kick the ball like that, and score tries like that,” Soward said.
McGregor, the 2021 Dally M medallist, will try and wreak havoc at the SCG against a Roosters side that has had a mixed start to the season.
Roosters coach John Strange, who was in charge of McGregor last year and in 2021 when they won the premiership, is familiar with the playmaker’s game and said the Dragons would be difficult opponents.
Dragons halfback Raecene McGregor.Credit: NRL Imagery
“They played really well against Parramatta. There was a bit of talk over the off-season about the players that have left, but not much talk about the players to come in,” Strange said.
“They’re really quality, and I know that every game that we’ve played against them has been really tough.
“She [McGregor] did a really good job last week against the Eels. She organised the side, kicked really well, so I expect nothing different. She’s a good defender, so she’ll be out there trying her best.”
McGregor’s kicks for winger and NRLW debutante Cortez Te Pou put two tries on the board for the Red V last week, and Strange said the Tricolours were preparing for the unexpected.
“She’s pretty pinpoint. She put a few of those kicks in for us last year for our wingers, but we can’t just be focused on that with Rae. If we are, she’ll put the ball somewhere else, that’s who she is,” Strange said.
The Roosters, who are without forwards Amber Hall and Mya Hill-Moana, and possibly star centre Jess Sergis who suffered a hamstring injury warming up for last week’s clash, were tipped as premiership favourites this year.
But Strange said the club’s shaky start, and injury management, might be just the thing to get the season on track.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Losing the players that we have ... I think it’s going to be really good for us to build as a squad,” Strange said.
“To have this at the start of the season, it’s going to be character building, it’s going to bond everyone together, it’s going to give these younger girls an opportunity to play earlier so that if they’re needed come semis, then everyone has had experience and everyone’s ready to go.”
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