NRL Round 7 Preview and Prediction - St. George Illawarra Dragons v North Queensland Cowboys @ WIN Stadium

St. George Illawarra Dragons v North Queensland Cowboys @ WIN Stadium
 
Preview - The high flying Dragons will be looking to keep their spot on top of the NRL ladder when they host an under-strength Cowboys’ side at WIN Stadium in Wollongong on Saturday night. The Dragons are firing on all cylinders in 2017, much to the surprise of many, with their latest dominant victory over Manly propelling them to the top of the ladder. The 35-10 demolition of the Sea Eagles at Lottoland confirmed the Dragons as the best attacking team in the competition through 6 weeks in the NRL, having scored 163 points at an average of over 32 points per game. The Cowboys suffered a double whammy blow last week losing Johnathan Thurston to injury in their shock 26-16 loss to the bottom placed Tigers at home. 
 
History - Last season when the sides met at WIN Stadium, the Dragons managed to secure a tight 14-10 victory. This game was during the Origin period with the Cowboys missing Johnathan Thurston, as they will be for different reasons in this game. Overall, there is nothing much between the two Clubs with the Cowboys having won 15 and the Dragons 13 in their 28 clashes. 
 
St George Illawarra Dragons’ Scouting Report - The Dragons are unchanged from the side that swept aside the Sea Eagles last weekend. Gareth Widdop is bumping up his contract value with every performance this year, with the Dragons’ Captain close to being the best player in the competition in 2017 after picking up another try scoring double last week. Expect the Dragons to keep Jason Nightingale at fullback after he switched with Kurt Mann. 
 
North Queensland Cowboys’ Scouting Report - The Cowboys have all sorts of changes with the injury to Johnathan Thurston forcing them into a major reshuffle. After playing at hooker last week, utility Ben Hampton will play halfback, with ? moving into hooker and Justin O'Neill fit to return from injury in the centres. With Lachlan Coote and Jake Granville also unavailable, the Cowboys are missing 3 of their spine players for this clash.
 
Verdict - Dragons by 8-16 in a low scoring game

There is no reason to think the Dragons can't keep the roll going here, especially with the Cowboys missing Thurston. Even if Thurston was available, I would probably favour the Dragons given the confidence and momentum they are playing with right now. The Dragons, even in down years, have proved hard to beat at their traditional home grounds, and I think with a big home crowd behind them here they can get another victory to stay top of the table. The Cowboys just have too many problems at the moment with injuries to senior players. The constant shuffling, especially in key positions, leads to poor attack and that was evident even last week with Thurston in the side, as they looked clunky and dropped plenty of ball. I think they could be in for a rough couple of months after a great start to the season.