RUGBY LEAGUE - DRAGONS
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Tough-tackling St George Illawarra hooker Mitch Rein is confident of the Dragons continuing their free scoring early season ways on Saturday night.
The Dragons lead the NRL ladder with three wins from four matches and, with 109 points scored, sit behind only the Bulldogs (110) in the "points for" column.
However, they were outscored by the Broncos, who inflicted the first loss of the season on the Red V at WIN Stadium.
High-flying wingers Jason Nightingale and Brett Morris, new centre paring Gerard Beale and Dylan Farrell and Dally M leader Gareth Widdop all feature heavily on weekly highlight reels as the Dragons rack up points.
The ledger is in stark contrast to recent seasons where the Dragons scored the least amount of points in the competition in 2012 and only managed more than wooden spooners the Eels in 2013.
Rein said the opening four rounds have been a welcome change after a number of sluggish seasons on the scoreboard.
"It's better receiving praise for scoring points compared to the last few years," Rein said.
"Our new recruits have really brought a bit of an edge and helped us really click and get those points we wanted to get.
"We haven't had Duges all year, so it'll be huge to have him back [this week].
"He's an Origin player and everyone knows what he's capable of, so it's going to be good having him back."
The Dragons again managed four tries for 20 points against the Broncos but surrendered 36 in a disappointing loss.
Rein said the Dragons will need to make better use of their opportunities against a Rabbitohs side that is stinging from three straight losses.
"It was really disappointing to come away with a loss [against the Broncos]," he said.
"We're happy with our attack but on the weekend we thought we had a few opportunities that we didn't take advantage of, so we'll be looking to do that this week.
"They've [Souths] got some great players all over the park, so we definitely have to be on our toes.
"We're really looking forward to it and they're coming off a number of poor performances, so they'll be ready to go."
The outside backs haven't been the only ones to shine; the mobile big men made good use of rule changes that sped up the ruck.
Rein said the Dragons will have to work hard in defence against the Rabbitohs pack on Saturday.
"It [the ruck] has been a lot quicker but in saying that the line-speed from opposing teams has been really fast," he said.
"The Broncos on the weekend did a great job of really getting their line-speed up.
"That's something we'll look to bring into our game as well to nullify their [Souths] big boys in attack," Rein said.