Dragons regain outright NRL lead after

Luke’s status remains vague, although he refused to rule himself out of Saturday’s match despite having his arm in a sling as he left the team’s sheds.

The 30-year-old was cleared to play only on Friday after suffering what was eventually diagnosed as a minor lateral collateral ligament knee problem in the Anzac Day loss to Melbourne.

Club medical staff were pleasantly surprised the rare nature of his knee injury was less severe than initially reported, and Luke hopes to make a similarly swift recovery this week.

“I was only confident after the captain’s run [on Friday for the Tigers game], so we’ll just take it day by day,” Luke said of his shoulder concern.

“[The knee is] all right. The doctor’s diagnosis was a bit gangsta but it’s a pretty uncommon injury.

“When they found out what it Warriors assistant coach Tony Iro was, they freaked out because no one does that kind of injury. It’s either ACL, or PCL, or MCL, and I did an LCL. It pulled up well.”

The five-tries-to-one win put the Warriors back into second on the ladder on 14 points, just two behind leaders St George Illawarra.

They will look to continue their momentum and aim to claim their second win over the Roosters this season following their round four 30-6 victory in Sydney.

The Roosters held on to see off the Sea Eagles 22-20 yesterday, edging into the top eight with their fifth win in nine games. But the club have yet to justify the odds which saw them among the leading pre-season title contenders. St George Illawarra have gone top on their own after thrashing last year’s NRL champions the Melbourne Storm in Sydney yesterday.

The Dragons won 34-14 and have still lost only one game this season, against the Warriors. By contrast, the Storm were dubbed near perfect in the previous outing, coincidentally also against the Warriors but were brought down to earth with a thump yesterday. Their performance was loaded with uncharacteristic errors.

Their three tries were all scored by flying winger Josh Addo-Carr, who enhanced his chances of a State of Origin call-up. Addo-Carr also scored a fourth try, at a crucial point in the first half, which was bizarrely ruled out.

The Dragons were impressive and drew standout performances from hooker Cameron McInnes, centre Euan Aitken and fullback Matt Dufty.