Dragons seeking redemption after Roosters' Anzac Day hammering

In the immediate aftermath of the 26-6 win at Kogarah, Dragons coach Shane Flanagan indicated the Red V would now seek a bit of redemption against the Roosters when they play the tri-colours at Allianz Stadium this Sunday.

The last time the two sides met at the venue a rampant Roosters hammered the Dragons 60-18 on Anzac Day, on the back of a Sam Walker masterclass.

The 42-point winning margin was the biggest in the 23 Anzac Day clashes between the two teams.

This was not lost on Flanagan, who said his chargers were looking forward to testing themselves against the Roosters once again.

"It's already been mentioned in the sheds......it's a bit of redemption," he said.

"I thought we got off to a good start against the Roosters that day. There was 20 minutes in and we scored the first try and we were up for it but then their halfback [Sam Walker] kicked us off the park.

"We need to be really good next week. It's a really good challenge for us.

"After today's result I think it's a good place for us to be in, let's go and see how we go against another top four side in the Roosters.

"We will know where we're at [after the game]."

The Dragons are now in eighth spot but Flanagan said it was important St George Illawarra kept performing well over the next two weeks before their next bye.

"I'm not looking at the ladder too much and I'm not looking at too far down the track, it's more probably getting to our bye," he said.

"We've got two big games, the Roosters and the Broncos, the Broncos without Origin players.

"If we can grab two of those, that's a real big tick.

"If we can get to our next bye with two or three out of three, which is the goal, we're in really good shape."

This view was shared by Dragons skipper Ben Hunt, who added the players felt the excitement building amongst fans during St George Illawarra's good run of form over the last couple of months.

"You definitely feel the excitement building inside the club and on the outside. You run into some fans and stuff on the street and they're all really excited and feeling good about where the club's going," Hunt said.

"You look today there's a really good and passionate crowd out there in some pretty ordinary conditions.

"It's exciting for us but we've still got some work to do to please those fans a bit more."

His team-mate Kyle Flanagan agreed, adding it was important now for the Dragons to back up their impressive performance against the Dolphins with a similar showing against the Roosters.

"The Dolphins gave us a touch-up early in the year. That's been a motivation for today, and that's no different next week. We were disappointed with our performance on Anzac Day," he said.

"[The Dolphins] was an important game for us, especially after our disappointing showing against Manly before our bye round.

"We thought we'd missed an opportunity against Manly. To come out here and play some good footy and beat a good team in the Dolphins, it was a big win for us.

"It's important now that we back it up in our next two games before the bye. The Roosters and Broncos will be tough games but we're looking forward to the challenge."

With Zac Lomax out injured, Flanagan took over the goal-kicking duties against the Dolphins.

Lomax though is expected to return from his shoulder injury for the clash against the Roosters.

Flanagan is happy for Lomax to be back in the team and take over the goal-kicking duties, even though he enjoyed doing it in difficult conditions against the Dolphins.

"The one I got, it was the most important one where we would go up by 14, so I really wanted to get that one after I missed two..........I got the most important one but was disappointed to miss a couple of others," he said.

"But importantly we won. We needed to walk out of here with a win, it didn't matter how we got it, so we're happy."