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St George Illawarra players believe their sold-out clash with Canterbury will offer their inexperienced youngsters the perfect early taste of finals football.
Welcome to finals football one month early St George Illawarra.
Saturday's bumper clash with Canterbury could be the biggest game for some of their inexperienced players, and it's precisely what the doctor ordered.
Out of the finals since 2018, St George Illawarra are suddenly on the verge of returning after last week's shock win over Melbourne propelled them into the top eight.
And for six of the Dragons, Saturday's game looms as the closest finals experience they will likely get before September.
The match mimics the first-week-of-finals showdown of fifth-against eighth, and a win for either team will push them one step closer to progressing.
Kogarah is already sold out days before the match with more than 17,000 fans set to be in attendance for arguably the most anticipated NRL clash in Sydney this season.
In turn, it could be the best possible preparation for the likes of Tyrell Sloan, Max Feagai, Christian Tuipulotu, Francis Molo, Jacob Liddle and Ryan Couchman, who have all never played finals.
"It's going to be a high-intensity game. When you're playing for that and the atmosphere, that's what the finals are," Couchman said.
"We do have a few players who haven't played finals, and we also have a lot of experience in our side too.
"It could ready you for finals footy down the track, big games like this."
Couchman maintains the Dragons will enter the match on a high, labelling the 18-16 win over the Storm as the best of his career.
"It instils a lot of confidence in us," Couchman said.
"It was a 25-year streak that we haven't beat them down there.
"To beat them down there gives us a lot of belief as a group and we'll look to carry that out for the rest of the season."
The same scenario could also be said for Canterbury, who have eight players in their side who have never ventured to the finals.
They had an early finals warm up last week at a packed-out Belmore against Canberra, and now get a second audition.
It's why Dragons players believe this is a match they need to have as part of their charge to September.
"This will be a good learning curve for the boys, so once we make the finals they won't feel the pressure," Dragons second-rower Luciano Leilua said.
"You don't want to get the boys too hyped up about this game being finals, some boys are like it's another game.
"But I don't look at it as another game. If you do, you think you've just got to go out and do your normal thing.
"I look at it as just below a finals game. It means something, even if it's not a finals game yet. When we run out to warm up, the boys will understand."
