The absence of skipper and first choice goal-kicker Gareth Widdop proved telling for the Dragons with goal-kicking the difference in a match that finished three tries apiece and never reached any great heights.

After naming a heavily depleted lineup earlier in the week, Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire made a host of late changes including the withdrawal of Luke Keary.

It left his side largely unrecognisable to even the most dedicated of Souths fans but they did the job with second half tries to Kirisome Auva’a and Ed Murphy and sideline conversions from Damien Cook and Cody Walker enough to seal the win after the Dragons briefly led 10-6 early in the second half. 

Kurt Mann did his chances of claiming the Dragons No.1 jumper no harm in his 65-minute stint, scoring a try and saving another with a brilliant covering effort on a runaway Damien Cook nine minutes from halftime.

Russell Packer was close to the best forward on the park as he continues his return to the top-flight while Siliva Havili was also strong out of dummy-half in his stint either side of halftime.

Benji Marshall also made it through his first game since suffering a nasty ankle syndemosis injury in the Dragons semi-final loss to the Bulldogs last season in what was perhaps the only real positive to come out of the match for coach Paul McGregor.

“We din’t get any injuries,” McGregor said when asked for positives.

“It was a trial. they enjoyed the occasion and we didn’t rise enough.

“You can look at it as a trial or an opportunity. They looked at it as an opportunity, we looked at it as a trial so we’ve got some work to do.

“We didn’t hold the ball in the first half, our cohesion wasn’t there in attack.

“All across the park they won the ground all day. They controlled the play-the-ball speed, got off their line well and certainly had a lot of intent in what they were about. We lacked that.

“The Charity Shield should mean a bit more than that. Come next week [against New Zealand] we’ve got some work to do.”

The hosts were on the board after just five minutes when John Sutton barged over from close range after Mann was incorrectly ruled to have taken the ball dead, forcing a line dropout. Bryson Goodwin slotted the straight-forward conversion for a 6-0 lead.

The Dragons hit straight back when Jason Nightingale cleverly batted a Marshall grubber back into the Rabbitohs in-goal where it slipped through Euan Aitken’s hands before being dived on by Mann. Marshall’s attempted conversion was waved away giving the Rabbitohs a two-point buffer at 12-10.

Pete Mata’utia gifted the Rabbitohs a chance deep inside Dragons territory when he spilled a Sutton bomb five metres out form his own line but a grubber from Walker on just the third tackle let them off the hook.

Will Matthews gave them another attacking shot when he grassed a routine dummy-half pass on his own 20-metre line but the Rabbitohs again failed to capitalise with a wayward Sutton pass falling into the arms of Nightingale.

The Rabbitohs had another chance to post points with 14 minutes remaining when Cameron McInnis forced a line dropout but a dropped ball from Jokatama Dokinavalu again eased the pressure. 

Former Dragons Damien Cook looked certain to score nine minutres from the break when he split the Dragons defence from dummy-half and set sail for the corner only to be denied by a brilliant covering effort from Mann.

It looked to have paid dividends big dividends at the other end with the Dragons marching up the field on the back of consecutive penalties and finding the stripe through Aitken. Referee Gavin Badger sent the try upstairs where video referee Nick Beashel ruled Aitken had lost control of the ball in attempting to ground it leaving the score at 6-4 at halftime.

Havili barged over from close range 12 minutes after the resumption to take a 10-6 lead but it was short-lived with a try to Kirisome Auva’a and a sideline conversion from Cook re-taking the lead 12-10 four minutes later.

Souths gave themselves an eight-point buffer with 10 minutes to play when Ed Murphy crossed out wide after a break from Walker. Walker slotted the conversion to put the margin out to beyond a converted try.

The Dragons gave themselves a chance at a late victory when Aitken crossed in the corner to cut the margin to 18-14 but it was as close as they got in the end.