The Tigers, who are on track to play finals for the second year in a row, are coming off a fortnight of mixed results that proved how wide open the GFL premiership race is.

They claimed the scalp of then-ladder leader Newtown & Chilwell in Round 4 but slipped to fifth on the ladder last week after losing to St Joseph’s.

“They’ve got a very talented list that they’ve built on from last year’s grand final appearance and we know they’re going to be strong,” Dragons co-coach Tim Sheringham said.

“Obviously they play very well when Erskine kicks goals, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on him and I personally rate Jarrod Young very highly, so we’ll probably give him some attention.

“They don’t have too many weaknesses.”

The Dragons, who are delicately placed on 2-3, got their season back on track last week with a dominant win over a hapless Geelong West-St Peter’s.

They expect to be strengthened by the returns of Michael Bright, Jason Graham and Ben Johnson, but are likely to be without ruckman Zane Vail and star midfielder Mitch Cuthill (both unavailable).

Michael Bright is expected to return to the Bell Park line-up.

Bright made a successful return in the reserves last week after tearing his plantar fascia during a practice match.

Graham is managing tendinitis in his foot that forced him out of the side last week.

“He had a bit of a scare with the foot. We thought it was a stress fracture but it wasn’t that, so we had a bit of a lucky break there,” Sheringham said.

Johnson has struggled to shake an ongoing knee injury but is rated a strong chance to return for his first game since Round 1.

His possible return would reinforce a forward line that has taken on a vastly different look this year after they lost their two leading goalkickers — Stephen Paulke and Kristian Bucovaz — over the off-season.

Young forward Matt Tyquin has crossed from Bannockburn and kicked four goals last week, while key position prospect Dylan Weir, who played 21 senior games last year, has spent the past fortnight in the reserves.

Despite the 92-point win over the Roosters, which included 40 scoring shots, Sheringham said there were areas for improvement.

Many observers believe the Dragons should have won by more given the clinical nature they took control of the match from early in the first quarter.

“We probably had a bit of a flat patch in the last quarter when they kicked three goals,” Sheringham said.

“Ideally we’d like to keep them to two or three goals and make it a good defensive effort, but we gave up a couple in the last.

“But it was a lot closer to playing four quarters of footy and applying the pressure that we’ve been looking for.”