Dragons await scans on Frizell injury

Frizell scored a crucial second-half try in the Dragons 16-12 victory over the Tigers, but didn’t finish the match after reeling out of an attempted tackle on Tim Grant in the 58^th minute.

The 25-year-old was taken to hospital for precautionary X-rays after the match, but club medical staff won’t know the full extent of the injury until further scans are completed on Monday. 

“He wasn’t singing the [victory] song real loud,” McGregor said post-match.

“He was sitting down for that so it looks like he’s not real well.”

Frizell’s injury came on the same day Gareth Widdop and Josh Dugan returned from injury lay-offs and could leave McGregor without one of his trump cards for a number of weeks.

It’s also a headache for NSW coach Laurie Daley, with Frizell playing a pivotal role in the Blues new order in the last two Origin series’.

Daley and McGregor had further nervous moments just five minutes after Frizell came from the field, with Dugan going down with a knee injury, though he played out the match and was one of the Dragons best.

Losing Frizell for an extended period would be a blow but, having notched their seventh win from 11 games this season to sit third on the ladder, McGregor remains positive about his side’s position.

“I think we’re in a really good position because I think our best football is still ahead of us,” McGregor said.

“We’ve played the last month of footy without some high quality players but we’re getting some people back now. 

“They’re back playing now regularly and I think we’re still learning our brand of footy and our style of footy.

“We’re sitting third on the table, it’s a good position to be in halfway through the competition especially when I feel, and the players feel, that we’ve got our best footy ahead.”

While it provided a valuable two points, McGregor admitted his side’s performance against the Tigers was a drop in the standards his side have set this season.

It’s something that will need to improve in the eight-day turnaround into their long-weekend clash with the Bulldogs next Monday at ANZ Stadium.

“We’re a team that holds ourselves to certain standards and I thought, after the bye, we had a few blokes away through the week with the Origin period, the cohesion just wasn’t there at times [against the Tigers],” McGregor said.

“There were a few moments in the game that swung at different times.

“The reason we are where we sit on the table is because we do team-first actions and I thought everyone was trying hard, but trying hard individually.

“We fell away from what we do well which is around our effort and around our standards that a lot of people don’t see but the team notice when they’re out there.

“In saying that we won a game against an opposition in the NRL and we learn from that. Getting a win, and not playing to your best, you can certainly take some good learning from it.

“We’ll certainly work hard to improve on that coming in against the Dogs.”