Cronulla halfback Brett Kimmorley admits the Sharks have a discipline problem - but it's with their hands and not their fists.

The Sharks will field a depleted forward pack for Saturday night's NRL derby against St George Illawarra, the Shire boys to be without suspended duo Paul Gallen and Ben Ross while backrower Reece Williams has been lost for the season with a knee injury.

Gallen was banned over an ugly facial massage in last week's loss to Gold Coast while Ross was lucky not to have caused a serious injury when he collected Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk with a stray elbow.

Kimmorley denied his side had gone over the top in its aggressive nature during the opening three rounds of the competition.

"We pride ourselves on our defence and aggression is a big part of that," Kimmorley said.

"We have a bit of a problem with our ball security - hopefully we've addressed that and cleaned it up.

"That will probably minimise the frustration that was evident over the last few weeks."

Sharks coach Ricky Stuart has a makeshift backrow; former Dragons stalwart Lance Thompson recalled to the top grade for the first time this year to face his old club.

Greg Bird, who will lead the side in Gallen's absence, will play at five-eighth, the position in which he represented both NSW and Australia last year.

The Dragons will be hoping for a double celebration on Saturday to cap a big week in which current Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett was named to take over next season from Dragons mentor Nathan Brown.

Fullback Ben Hornby will break former skipper Trent Barrett's club record for most first grade games with his 155th appearance and he knows there would be no better way to mark the occasion than with a win.

"It's a huge week for me and it's something I'm very proud of to be the most capped player," Hornby said.

"We'd like to be 50 per cent (win-loss ratio), I don't think we're at `must-wins' at the moment but it's definitely a game that we'd like to win and stay with the teams in the top eight.

"It's good for the club that what's happening next year is sorted out. We can worry about that next year and we can get on with this year now and focus on winning as many games as can and having a successful year.

"To send (Brown) out on a high not would be good for him and great for the club."

Brown will trim two members from his six-man bench on Saturday with John Green and Stuart Webb likely to be omitted.

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