St George Illawarra centre Matt Cooper insists the Dragons won't be out to target former captain Trent Barrett when they clash with Cronulla at WIN Jubilee Oval on Sunday.

Barrett will play his first NRL game against his former club after he left the Dragons at the end of 2006 for two seasons with Wigan in England.

Now the focal point of the Sharks attack, and their leading tryscorer, Barrett is undoubtedly the man to shut down if the Dragons want to secure their second win of the season on Sunday.

But Cooper, who played seven seasons with Barrett, says the Dragons won't go out of their way to ensure the five-eighth has a torrid return to Kogarah.

"I don't think he is going to be a target," said Cooper.

"We just have to worry about ourselves and go out there with a game plan and stick to the game plan.

"It's going to be weird for me having Baz on the other side. He has been playing well I think.

"I'm pretty sure he will be up to put a couple of shots on a few of us."

Sunday's clash shapes as a defensive slugfest with the Dragons and Sharks both struggling in attack in the first two weeks of the NRL season.

Cooper said the Dragons had worked on communication at training this week to help improve the speed and fluency of their attack.

"Hopefully we can sharpen up a bit in our attack," said Cooper.

"We have just sort of picked up our communication.

"We have had a couple of good training sessions this week and hopefully we improve that on the weekend."

However, the NSW centre is wary of the Sharks' attack, fearing they too could find some bite just when it is needed.

"I'm pretty sure Ricky (Stuart) will get them fired up for this game. It's an important game for them and for us," he said.

"If you look at their team they have some great players in there.

"They have not been in great form but they have had a lot of injuries.

"I'm sure it's going to click for them soon, hopefully it does not click for them on Sunday."

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