This Saturday the Charity Shield will make a return to Mudgee's Glen Willow Stadium for the third consecutive year in a row that will host the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the St George Illawarra Dragons.
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With the exception of 2000 and 2001, this annual pre-season clash between the Rabbitohs and the Dragons has been contested since 1982, and the Rabbitohs will be looking to retain the Charity Shield for the eight straight year while the Dragons will look to reverse the trend.
This match is much more than your average NRL trial game, it will be played at the highest level with guts, passion and pride, so based on previous years you can expect to see more of the same.
Souths have won the previous two matches hosted here in Mudgee to the tune of 22-18 in 2018 and last year 36-24.
Last year Souths had a good year finishing just one game short of a grand final appearance, losing to the Canberra Raiders 16-10 in the preliminary final.
This will be the first time that Souths will play without club heroes Sam Burgess and John Sutton and if the Rabbitohs are going to win then all eyes should be on Damien Cook's running game, however, Souths have signed Latrell Mitchell whose first game with the club will be on Saturday.
Mitchell will be starting at fullback and will be one to watch with the last time he played at fullback in 2016 where he played 16 games in that position and scored 11 tries.
Sadly, last year the St George Illawarra Dragons had a shocking season, finishing second last with only eight wins for the entire season.
However, this year has started to look more promising with the club having made it to the final of the NRL 9's played in Perth earlier this month and defeated the Newcastle Knights in a trial 38-12.
The Dragons haven't won a Charity Shield since 2012 where they won 18-12, and if they are going to get the job done this time, Ben Hunt will have to play great which could be the start of a great year for the red and white outfit.
The attendance record at Glen Willow currently stands at 9,267, so head out to Glen Willow, see some of the best players in the game in action and maybe we can even crack the 10,000 mark.
