Dragons coach Paul McGregor has put his faith in young gun Drew Hutchison after Gareth Widdop was on Friday ruled out of Saturday's clash with the Tigers.

The loss of Widdop - who suffered a corked thigh in a 28-26 loss to the Titans last week - is a massive blow for the Dragons who are desperate to recapture winning form heading into the finals.

It will leave Benji Marshall to shoulder the bulk of the play-making duties alongside Hutchison who was named as Widdop's replacement on Friday.

The Dragons were on the wrong end of a 32-6 hammering the last time the Widdop-Marshall combination was broken up with the latter missing the round 23 match against Brisbane with a hamstring strain.

McGregor attracted criticism that night for starting regular interchange forward Jack de Belin at halfback and leaving Hutchison on the bench for 53 minutes but, with their place in the finals all but assured, it's likely the 20-year-old Junior Kangaroo will start the match against the Tigers.

The match could also see hooker Mitch Rein called upon to play the full 80 minutes after McGregor has named four forwards on the bench earlier this week.

"I'm looking at that, we've got a couple of options there," McGregor said.

"Mitch Rein is pushing out long minutes now and is very comfortable that he can play 80 minutes.

"It's a choice we do have where we can roll our middle around a little bit more and put a bit more size out there at different times.

"It's just a matter of who we're playing and what type of football the opposition plays as to who we decide to play on game day."

The Dragons would cement eighth position with a win over the Tigers and McGregor believes his side is not far off recapturing top form.

"We've won three of our last five games and we were been beaten by two points on the weekend by a side who pretty well played off the cuff with not much to lose," McGregor said.

"We've just got to break the game down a bit and get back to the basics of the game and do them the best we can. That's what we need to do."