Moss Vale and Mittagong struggled to name their sides this week as both clubs wait on players to declare whether or not they will be fit to play. As a result, the teams named are both expected to change on Sunday.

Mittagong are sweating on the availability of their key playmaker Rob Carter who has not been named in the team.

Carter is still some chance of playing although he did miss last week’s game against Ingleburn.

Lions coach Andy Stephan said he would look towards the club’s youngsters.

“Two under-18s backed up for us last week and they did really well,” Stephan said.

“Sebastian Sell and Zac Blackshaw can be proud of how they went and it’s something we might have to look at doing a bit more often.”

Thankfully for the Dragons, they have a bit more depth in their squad.

Dragons captain Dan Drewe played down his team’s favouritism status.

“I guess we look like favourites because we’re a bit further up the ladder, but we have a few injury troubles and being a local derby it’s hard to call us favourites,” he said.

Dragons players Robbie Noble, Damian Barton and Ben Murchie suffered ankle injuries in last week’s loss to Picton and are not expected to play this week.

On paper the Dragons look too big for Mittagong, but the Lions have come up against big sides all year and been competitive in most of their matches.