Led by another barnstorming performance from new recruit Paul Vaughan up front, The Dragons completely out-muscled the Warriors pack en route to a 26-12 win at Kogarah on Sunday.

It followed similar efforts in wins over Penrith and Cronulla that sees them sitting comfortably in third sport ahead of their clash with the Wests Tigers this Sunday. 

While Tyson Frizell is a virtual lock for NSW following his efforts in last year’ series, Vaughan has been the form prop of the season so far with Jack de Belin also going from strength to strength after a breakout 2016.

Both have been part of emerging Blues squads in the past while bench weapon Tariq Sims has been part of NSW camp as recently as 2015. McGregor was only too willing to champion their representative cause following the win over the Warriors.

“I’m happy for every player I’ve got to get to higher levels because it’s important that’s what they’re playing for as well,” McGregor said.

“They need to always be looking to improve their game and when they improve their game they get noticed and when they get noticed they get selected.

“I’m 100 per cent behind people getting selected when they’re playing well, not people who aren’t playing well but get selected because of past history.”

NSW coach Laurie Daley has overseen a generational change in his time at the Blues helm with long-serving forwards Ryan Hoffman, Luke Lewis, Beau Scott and Greg Bird gradually making way for the new guard.

It’s opened the door for the likes of David Klemmer, Aaron Woods, Josh Jackson, Wade Graham and Frizell, none of whom looked out of place at Origin level.

Vaughan, de Belin and Sims, all 26, will certainly be in the frame should that continue this season with long-term skipper Paul Gallen having hung up the representative boots.

While it hasn’t been a huge topic of discussion within the Dragons camp, Sims said the club’s contingent of Blues hopefuls are pushing each other to new heights.

“For the likes of Paul Vaughan, Tyson Frizell, Jack de Belin and myself, it’s definitely something we’re all pushing for,” Sims said.

“It’s not something that we talk about but it’s definitely one of our goals. The Dragons have always had a great showing in the representative arena and it’s something we definitely want to build towards.

“Hopefully Loz is watching the performances that we’re handing in week in week out and is getting gauge on who he wants coming through and who he wants to build his pack around.

“We’ve just got to make sure we’re still rolling our sleeves up every week and doing our job for the team because at the end of the day, if you’re worried about something else you take your focus off what the team goal is and that’s getting forward and bashing teams.”