The Dragons were soundly beaten on the scoreboard on the back of three second half tries to the Rabbitohs that went unanswered until the final minute but the hosts held their own in the middle against a formidable Sam Burgess-led pack.

McGregor was especially pleased with the performance of Russell Packer and Leeson Ah Mau who both made their presence felt when injected midway through the first half.

Packer, who scored the Dragons first try midway through the first stanza, was particularly effective in his two stints despite injury rehab and illness limiting his preseason thus far.

“Russell had two 20-minute stints which was good,” McGregor said.

“He’s coming back off two operations, whooping cough and a sore back so he’s copped a fair whack in the last few months. I think he’s done really well and I thought when he came on he really changed the momentum of the game back in our favour.

“We made some changes around the 20-minute mark and our two middles (Packer and Ah Mau) came on and really changed the game and pulled it back a little bit.

“Trials are about putting people out there and giving them an opportunity.

“All our middles shared [the time], we only played four middles and they had a rotation once each, Tyson [Frizell] played 70 minutes, Jack de Belin got a good 50 [minutes] into him so that was pleasing.”

The match was also the first hit-out of the season for big-name back line stars Gareth Widdop and Josh Dugan who enjoyed mixed afternoons.

It was a performance with the football that didn’t inspire a lot of confidence in the club’s ability to turn around their attacking fortunes in 2017 but Widdop said they’ll be better for the run.

“I thought we did some good things, we certainly created some opportunities we just need to be better and finishing them,” Widdop said.

“That’s why we have these games to go back and review and see where we need to be better.

“A few passes didn’t stick and there were a few dropped balls but if we keep sticking to what we’ve been doing all preseason things will come on the back of that.”