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At this time of year coaches usually have an easy time of things, with no meaningful games yet lost and the fans waiting to see what the first few rounds bring.
South Sydney’s Michael Maguire is well settled as the coach of a grand final and Nines winning squad. He just needs to test out options for the replacement of Sam Burgess and a few other players.
Dragons coach Paul McGregor is in a much different position as he approaches his first full season. McGregor will be carefully watching various options as his team go around on Saturday against a Souths team full of confidence.
Last year Gareth Widdop had just joined the Dragons from the Storm and until Benji Marshall joined mid-year the Dragons went through three players at halfback without settling on a pairing.
In Marshall and Widdop, McGregor has a very competitive and stable halves pairing that he can build a team around. There are a host of other halves in the squad in case of injuries.
So the halves are set and Benji at least had his chance to get his moves right at the Nines while Widdop had the Four Nations tournament for England. So far so good for McGregor.
But where else to improve?
Josh Dugan has returned to the fullback position, aiming for Jarryd Hayne’s vacant Origin position, so that’s set. However last year’s incumbent Adam Quinlan can no longer be called on to fill in for Dugan in the event of injury, as two weeks ago he was a last-minute defection to the Eels.
Having invested in preseason training of Quinlan, McGregor would not have been pleased, and is now left picking a winger, centre or inexperienced junior to fill-in if and when necessary. It will be interesting to see if he tries someone out in the Charity Shield.
The centre positions last year were a problem for the Dragons, particularly in defence, and numerous alternatives were tried with Dugan being eventually moved from fullback to centre and Dylan Farrell playing centre in attack with Charly Runciman there in defence.
McGregor has purchased a solid, experienced centre in Dane Nielsen and he will get every chance to make one centre position his. The other centre position is up for grabs this weekend with Farrell, Peter Mata’utia and Runciman all competing with Dragons junior Euan Aitken. How did McGregor let Cronulla Nines star Jack Bird get away? Maybe we will hear the story later in the season.
Which leads us to the loss of Brett Morris, who was let out of the remaining year of his contract to join his brother Josh at the Bulldogs, leaving one wing spot open with Jason Nightingale having a stranglehold on the other. Morris’ former position is a fight between the same players vying for the centre spot, as well as boom Nines winger Eto Nabuli and Yaw Kiti Glymin. There are bound to be outside backs running on and off continuously at the Charity Shield.
Now to the Dragons’ main problem, the forwards.
Mitch Rein is hooker. A hard worker, Rein is reliable, generally injury free, and good in defence if a little uninspiring in attack and. This year there are a host of other options too in new signings Heath L’Estrange (Roosters), Beau Henry (Titans) and Kris Keating (Hull KR) to look at, as well as maybe young Shannon Crook. So no real problem here except for the choice and whether to use one spot on the bench for a fresh hooker to give the forwards more punch in attack.
Second row and lock positions are easy to fill because the Dragons forwards last year were all really second rowers due to Steve Price experimenting with a more mobile pack. So what to do about props?
McGregor seems to be looking to lock Mike Cooper (a bit light at 103 kilograms) who played well last year to fill-in again this year alongside Samoan international Lesson Ah Mau (111 kilograms) with maybe George Rose (116 kilograms), Rory O’Brien (110 kilograms), Jack De Belin (107 kilograms) and Dan Hunt (106 kilograms) coming off the bench.
That leaves giant youngster Addin Founa-Blake (116 kilograms), Shannon Wakeman (106 kilograms) and Rulon Nutira (112 kilograms) going around in NSW Cup trying to get their chance when injuries strike.
McGregor can be reasonably happy with the Dragons’ depth this year and he has a new defensive pattern in place to plug the gaps which were in the middle last year.
But the Dragons are a work in progress up against all-conquering Rabbitohs and a big loss to the Rabbitohs and a loss to Warrington will certainly dent their confidence going into the start of the season against the Storm.
Expect McGregor to take the Charity Shield very seriously.
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