Don't Rein in my minutes

Hooker Mitch Rein says he's more than capable of handling the heat of playing 80 minutes if coach Paul McGregor prefers to add an extra big body to his bench in the run to the finals.

Rein has enjoyed a career-best season this year and was even touted as a contender for an Origin debut as regular Blues No 9 Robbie Farah battled injury throughout the series.

But the fact that Rein is averaging 56 minutes a game was the one asterisk most people had against his name with McGregor preferring him to share the hooking role with veteran Heath L'Estrange over the opening half of the season.

While the two dummy-halves worked best for the Dragons early in the season, there are question marks over whether it's still the right move late in year given Rein's growing importance to his side's fortunes.

Rein played 66 minutes and produced a try and two try assists in a career best performance against the Warriors three weeks ago and has played 60-plus minutes in the Dragons past two games.

He said he's capable of going the distance if McGregor decides to keep his first choice spine intact in coming weeks after Dragons clearly lost some direction when he was replaced in a scratchy victory over the Panthers.

"I know I can play 80 minutes," Rein said.

"The [previous] two games I'd played 60 minutes straight and I was expecting to do that again [against Penrith]

"I was feeling really fresh when I came off but the coach has an interchange plan.

"Our momentum might have been halted a little bit, whether that was because I came off or not I'm not sure, but we'll get the balance right in the next couple of weeks.

"Having two hookers gives us a little bit more energy and it's worked for us at different stages of the year.

"I'm happy to do whatever the coach wants us to do to get us the win but obviously I'd love to play as many minutes as I can."

Rein admits his confidence took a hit during the Dragons mid-season run of outs but he feels he's hitting his straps again at the right time.

"I've been happy at different stages throughout the year but I just want to get that consistency back," Rein said.

"When we were on a roll earlier in the year we just knew how to win and we were confident we could win every game. I was down on confidence during that losing streak as most of the boys were but we've got that back.

"I know I'm feeling really good again and it's the right time of year to be feeling confident.

"I'm really looking to these next couple of games. They're all winnable, but if we want to keep improving and have a real crack at the finals we've just got to take it week by week from now on."