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NRL: Jayden Sullivan gets chance as Corey Norman replacement

St George Illawarra will get another glimpse at the future when Jayden Sullivan runs out in his second NRL game in place of Corey Norman on Sunday.

The teenaged five-eighth has been touted as the man to take over Norman’s No.6 jersey next season and will get a chance to show why against the Gold Coast.

Norman, Daniel Alvaro and Zac Lomax are serving their one-match ban for breaching the NRL’s biosecurity protocols at a barbecue last month, which has opened the door for Sullivan’s promotion.

The 19-year-old made his NRL debut last season and has battled hamstring and toe injuries before finally getting his chance again on Sunday.

“It’s great to be able to give him a chance, he’s an exciting young talent and long term is someone we see as part of our halves at the club,” said coach Anthony Griffin on Saturday.

“He’s had his challenges, he’s had a few injuries and hasn’t been able to get himself on the park but he’s ready to go.

“He’s had a great week at training with Ben Hunt.”

Matt Dufty, Tyrell Fuimaono and Kaide Ellis have returned to the team after serving their one-match bans in a 32-18 loss to Manly last weekend.

The Dragons had led 14-12 at halftime before being overrun by the Sea Eagles.

But with their finals hopes on the line across the next few weeks, Griffin said he needs to see more defensive resilience from the team.

“We’ve paid a lot of attention to that,” he said.

“A couple last week were one-on-one misses, they were individual misses not team problems.

“We’ve had a little bit of that within our game over the last two or three weeks, against the Warriors we missed a couple of one-on-one opportunities and against the Raiders the week before as well.

“It’s more brushing up on our systems, but also individually.

“They’ve got to put it on the line this week.”

The Titans are coming off a 26-8 loss to Parramatta last week but are also clinging to faint finals hopes.

“The Titans are an unbelievable attacking side, they attack every tackle the whole way down the field,” Griffin said.

“In their own end they’ll play a lot of footy, they’ll kick early.

“They’ll even run the ball off a kick-off, so we’ve put a lot of attention on our defence, but individually everyone has to get their job done.”

-AAP

Topics: NRL, Sport
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