Haunted Dragons facing Storm graveyard

By Michael Cox
Updated November 5 2012 - 5:50pm, first published July 17 2008 - 11:58am
Melbourne's defeat of St George Illawarra in the 2006 NRL finals is one of many for the Storm over the Dragons.
Melbourne's defeat of St George Illawarra in the 2006 NRL finals is one of many for the Storm over the Dragons.

The Dragons will be confronted by the ghosts of past failures when they travel to Olympic Park to take on the Storm on Monday night.At the NRL venue known as "The Graveyard", St George Illawarra will renew one of their biggest rivalries.The "rivalry" is decidedly one-sided - not only have Melbourne enjoyed a complete dominance of the joint-venture club, holding a 14-5 head-to-head advantage - but they have won the games that mattered most.Dragons fans are still haunted by memories of the 1999 grand final, when St George Illawarra let victory slip through their fingertips.Then in 2000 came one of the darkest chapters in Dragons history when, motivated by sledging from five-eighth Anthony Mundine, Melbourne demoralised their opponents 70-10 in a grand final rematch at the MCG.Again in 2006, the Storm left Dragons supporters shattered when they knocked them out of the competition a game short of the grand final.Dragons halfback Ben Hornby said he and his team-mates were well aware of the history of the rivalry. "The history is there for everyone to see, they knocked us out of a grand final qualifier a couple of years ago and obviously won the grand final in '99," Hornby said.Gun players Mark Gasnier and Greg Inglis will re-ignite their own personal rivalry when they clash on Monday night.In game one of the State of Origin series this year, Gasnier dominated his opposite number in a Blues win.But in the series defining match in Brisbane, Inglis put on a scintillating show, troubling Gasnier and the Blues all night as the Maroons levelled the series.A third showdown between the pair was denied when Gasnier was forced to withdraw from the series decider with a back injury.

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