St George Illawarra and Newcastle meet at Wollongong's WIN Stadium on Sunday desperate to turn the screws on their seasons after a string of losses for both sides in recent weeks.
Easter Sunday will again deliver a crucial contest for both sides at this stage of the season with the Dragons beating the Knights 22-13 in the corresponding Easter Sunday clash last year.
The Dragons produced an improved performance in their 24-12 loss to South Sydney last week but suffered their fourth defeat in a row while the injury-hit Knights have lost three on the bounce after two wins to start the season.
The two outfits have met on 41 occasions since 1998 with the Dragons holding a 28-13 win-loss record overall against the Hunter side.
They'll play for the Alex McKinnon Cup for the eighth time in honour of the former Knights and Dragons forward.
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The Rundown
Team news
Dragons: The Red V are 1-18. Josh Kerr earns a promotion in the starting side with Aaron Woods dropping back to the bench while Josh McGuire returns from suspension. Tyrell Fuimaono and Tyrell Sloan dropped out before kick-off. George Burgess is included on the bench.
Knights: Adam Clune (knee) is a late withdrawal after failing to get through Saturday's final training run, replaced by Phoenix Crossland in the halves. Jacob Saifiti switches with brother Daniel and will start alongside David Klemmer, moving the NSW representative to the bench. Simi Sasagi comes into the 17 as a bench utility.
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Key match-up
Zac Lomax v Bradman Best: Two specialist centres on their edge that offer a point of difference in attack. Lomax is averaging 122 running metres so far in 2022 with 11 tackle busts while Best has scored two tries and eight tackle busts to his name.
Stat attack
The Knights are leading the competition with 3,199 kick metres with Jake Clifford (2139m) doing most of the work with the boot. The Dragons (2549m) are ranked 11th in this area.