The Dragons were without Gareth Widdop, Josh Dugan and first choice back-row of Tyson Frizell and Joel Thompson.

The Rabbitohs were also heavily depleted missing Sam, George and Tom Burgess, Greg Inglis, Alex Johnston and Adam Reynolds while Luke Keary was a late withdrawal with a hip complaint.

It left both sides reaching into their second tier but McGregor said the Rabbitohs young-guns showed a lot more desire in the 18-14 win.

“It was a trial. They enjoyed the occasion and we didn’t rise enough,’’ McGregor said post-match.

“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.

“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 and we lacked it.”

While he didn’t mince words in describing his side’s effort McGregor said he wasn’t overly concerned by the performance but is expecting a better showing against the Warriors on Saturday.

‘‘I don’t think it’s concerning. It’s a trial, we played 24 players there and a lot of those guys hadn’t played together," McGregor said.

‘‘If it keeps happening it’s concerning but it’s a trial. I’m confident in our playing group there’s no doubt about that but come next week we’ve got some work to do.

‘‘I’d like to look at it as our final hit-out before we determine our 17 to start the year.

‘‘I’d like to treat it with a lot more importance than we did on Saturday.’’

McGregor is also expecting some big guns to return this week.

‘We had both back-rowers out, Thompson and Frizell, obviously Gareth and Duges [Josh Dugan],” he aid. 

“They’ll all be available this week.’’