NRL: Dragons to face Tigers without Saffy

Dragon's prop Jarrod Saffy's quad injury has failed to respond to treatment. Photo / Getty Images

St George Illawarra have lost prop Jarrod Saffy to a quad injury for tonight's NRL preliminary final against Wests Tigers.

Saffy failed to take part in yesterday's final training session at Redfern Oval, the injury he suffered in the qualifying final win over Manly almost two weeks ago failing to respond to treatment.

John Green, who was named in an extended squad this week, will take Saffy's place on the bench alongside Nathan Fien, Matt Prior and Trent Merrin.

Utility Nick Emmett will be 18th man with rookie Kyle Stanley, prop Ricky Thorby and hooker Luke Priddis the others to miss out.

"It's a big blow for us, he's been playing well off the bench," captain Ben Hornby said of Saffy's injury. "I'm sure whoever comes in will play well."

The Dragons bunkered down in camp at a secret location in Sydney before the preliminary final, which could be watched by a full house with over 60,000 tickets already sold.

Hornby denied there was extra pressure on the minor premiers to win the game, claiming the opportunity is there for both sides to secure a grand final berth. "There's pressure on everyone ... It's do or die now so you've got to put in a good performance or you're out."

Meanwhile Dragons backrower Ben Creagh has claimed that his side, renowned for the stern defence, has the attacking variety to match it with the flair-filled Tigers.

Boasting the stingiest defence in the league at just over 12 points a game during the regular season, it has been widely believed the Dragons' long wait for a premiership would be built on their ability to hold out opponents.

With the Tigers renowned for their desire to throw the ball, promoters are billing tonight's ANZ Stadium tussle as the irresistible force versus the immovable object.

But Creagh claims the return to the club of former test centre Mark Gasnier and a willingness to vary the point of attack away from their prolific second-man play on the left edge has the Dragons poised to run up a score of their own. "We're definitely mixing up our attack more than what we had been doing - we play to the left side a lot with myself, Darius [Boyd], Coops [Matt Cooper] and B Moz [Brett Morris] - Brett was top tryscorer last year and nearly top tryscorer this year so you've got to play to your strengths out there," Creagh said.

"But we're hitting our front rowers in tight and hitting our lead runners more instead of going out the back all the time, we're using our right side.

"We're playing with a bit of variety and scoring a few tries on different sides of the field which is good for everyone's confidence ... that's what we need to do to keep winning so that we're not too predictable."

Gasnier and right-side partners Beau Scott and Jamie Soward would no doubt have taken a keen interest in the Tigers' defensive frailties down their edge in last week's win over Canberra. Raiders backrower Bronson Harrison and centre Joel Monaghan terrorised Robert Lui, Chris Lawrence and Lote Tuqiri, who are sure to feel the heat again tonight.

Dragons v Wests Tigers
at ANZ Stadium, tonight 7.45pm

DRAGONS
* Darius Boyd
* Brett Morris
* Mark Gasnier
* Matt Cooper
* Jason Nightingale
* Jamie Soward
* Ben Hornby (c)
* Neville Costigan
* Dean Young
* Michael Weyman
* Beau Scott
* Ben Creagh
* Jeremy Smith
Interchange: Nathan Fien, Trent Merrin, Matt Prior, Jarrod Saffy, Nick Emmett, Kyle Stanley, Jon Green, Luke Priddis (four to be omitted).

WESTS TIGERS
* Mitch Brown
* Lote Tuqiri
* Blake Ayshford
* Chris Lawrence
* Beau Ryan
* Benji Marshall
* Robert Lui
* Todd Payten
* Robbie Farah (c)
* Keith Galloway
* Liam Fulton
* Gareth Ellis
* Chris Heighington
Interchange: Ben Murdoch-Masila, Daniel Fitzhenry, Simon Dwyer, Bryce Gibbs, Mark Flanagan, Andrew Fifita (two to be omitted).

-AAP