'I've just got to trust my game': Lawrie confident top form not far off

It's a trap Dragons bookend Blake Lawrie feels he fell into to start the season, the 27-year-old admitting he placed too much pressure on himself to replicate the career-best form he produced at the end of last year.

The Dapto Canaries product was outstanding down the stretch of 2023, earning both the Club and Red V Members player of the year gongs.

He also skippered his junior club in the absence of Ben Hunt as his on-field numbers shot through the roof over the final seven games.

It was a stretch that saw him average 18 carries for 165 metres over 55 minutes, twice notching 20-plus carries for 200 metres or more.

With new coach Shane Flanagan bringing with him a new high performance regime, plenty tipped 'Blocka' to take further strides in 2024.

The reality has not proven so simple, with Lawrie himself labelling his early-season form as "shithouse" following his side's round six win over the Tigers.

Despite the frank take, Flanagan has stuck solid with the workhorse prop since his first outing of the year in round two.

Lawrie now believes he's starting to repay that faith as he looks to build through a campaign they way he did at the back end of 2023.

"It was probably only in my last 10 or so games last year where I had to step up because we had a lot of young fellas and we had a lot of injuries as well," Lawrie said.

"It wasn't for the whole year. It was probably the back end of the year and, to be honest, it only made me want to work harder.

"Obviously with a new coach coming in and new players, you want to build trust, you want to build relationships with new personnel.

"Not everything's perfect and I probably tried to work a little bit too hard and try to be a little bit too perfect in certain things.

"No-one's ever perfect, and my game's not going to be perfect, but I was putting a little bit too much pressure on myself to try and perform like I did last year instead of just letting it come naturally."

His 145 run metres from 19 carries in just 34 minutes on the paddock in last week's rout of the Tigers was his highest return since round two, leaving him confident he's turning a corner.

"Obviously I'm still not satisfied with where it's at, but I'm still working hard on that," he said.

"I've probably just got to take a step back trust my game, trust I've done the work, and not put too much pressure on myself.

"We've got a great forward pack here and if we keep building with each other we'll have a good run at the back end of the year.

"At moment I'm coming off the bench, that's my role. It's clear what my job is, I've just got to go out and execute it.

"I believe I've done the work, I'm getting my confidence and all that stuff back, so whatever will be will be."

As expected on the back of a 56-14 win, Flanagan on Tuesday named an unchanged Dragons 17 for Sunday's road clash with the Sea Eagles at Brookvale.

It's a pivotal clash heading into a bye, with the Dragons currently sitting in ninth spot on the ladder, two spots higher than Manly.

Wrecking ball Haumole Olakau'atu is named to start for the hosts despite a calf injury that kept him to just 24 minutes backing up from Origin last week.

Nathan Brown comes in to start at prop in place of the suspended Josh Aloiai, with Ethan Bullemor the new face on the bench.

At 7-6, Flanagan's side sits on the same number of wins as the fourth-placed Dolphins whom they face at Kogarah on the other side of the bye.