A party of props previously on the periphery will put their hands up to replace Justin Poore when the Dragons tackle preseason premiership picks Parramatta in Perth.
St George Illawarra's first trial is on February 14 and Michael Greenfield, Junior Paulo, Trent Merrin, Dan Hunt and Jarrod Saffy will be vying to fill the front row vacancy left by the NSW and Country Origin representative's departure.
Fellow Blue Michael Weyman has a mortgage on one bookend spot but the ME Bank Stadium stoush will have a big say on which hopeful gets first crack at a starting role in 2010.
Full coverage of the Dragons And they get to do so against none other than Poore, who will be making his debut for the bookmakers' competition favourites after a breakthrough season last year.
Greenfield and Paulo are new faces, Merrin was a National Youth Cup prop of the year, while Hunt and Saffy are backing up from good 2009 campaigns.
Meantime, the cross-country trip will also be a pointer to who will assume Wendell Sailor's position on the wing.
The recently retired dual international anointed Kiwi Jason Nightingale as heir apparent, but NYC graduate Joe Vickery, Michael Lett and off-season recruit Peni Tagive will also be keen to show their wares.
If Nightingale is handed the No 5 jersey, Vickery, Lett and Tagive will be in the running to assume Matt Cooper's place in the centres.
Cooper - along with master coach Wayne Bennett and five-eighth Jamie Soward - will be on the Gold Coast for the inaugural All Stars match on February 13.
The Shellharbour junior edged second-rower Ben Creagh in an online fans poll to be St George Illawarra's representative in the Bennett-coached NRL All Stars, who will take on Soward, Sailor and the other Indigenous All Stars.
Soward made the Dragons pivot spot his own last year, meaning the 2009 minor premiers will have to come up with a stop-gap No 6 for the Perth clash.
Utility Nathan Fien or boom youngster Beau Henry could partner skipper Ben Hornby in the halves in a dress rehearsal for the round-one visit to Parramatta on March 12.
St George Illawarra's brains trust will also have to find a replacement for Queensland Origin representative Neville Costigan, who will miss the first month of the NRL season after having a shoulder reconstruction late last year.
The Dragons have ample time to fit the final pieces to what they hope will be the premiership puzzle as they play the Bulldogs in the Mercury Challenge at WIN Stadium on February 20.
The annual Charity Shield clash against South Sydney is scheduled a week later.
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