Dragons and Bulldogs turn NRL on it's head

Rugby league has a habit of tossing up great ironies, none more interesting than Monday’s clash between the Dragons and Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium.

Hasler recently signed a two-year extension of his own but will head into the clash under a mountain of pressure following his side’s abysmal showing in their last-start 38-0 thrashing at the hands of Penrith.

It was the Dogs fifth loss in their last six games, putting them at risk of missing the finals for the first time during Hasler’s six-year reign.

Last season it was McGregor under the pump, while the Dogs’ disruptive player contract issues and an impotent attack also mirror the Dragons 2016 plight.

McGregor has orchestrated a dramatic turnaround in 2017 but he hasn’t wasted any energy this week pondering the similarities between Hasler’s situation and his own last year.

“I haven’t thought about it, no,” McGregor said.

​”Professional sport and rugby league is like that. It’s a relentless and challenging job. If it wasn’t the Bulldogs, it’d be someone else. 

“For me I always just concentrate on us and that’s the most important thing. That’s a lesson I’ve learned.

“[Last year] I was worrying about too many things and not concentrating on what I need to do and that’s connecting with the locker room, connecting to the coaching and the style of footy that best suits who we are.

“I’m aware of all the noise around the Dogs at the moment, I’m not living under a house, but for me it’s all about what we need to do and the standards we need to maintain for us to go out and play our style of footy.

“Whatever the Bulldogs bring on Monday, we’re just going to bring what we need to bring.”

Any potential backlash could well be felt by the Dragons big men with the Dogs traditionally relying on grunt up front to pull them out of slumps.

It’s also a chance for the likes of Jack de Belin and Paul Vaughan to press their future Origin claims against Blues incumbents David Klemmer and Josh Jackson.

Blues coach Laurie Daley has stated a policy of rewarding consistent form and McGregor said the pair only need to continue what they’re doing club level to keep knocking on the door.

“I think Paul’s just got to keep bringing what he’s brought in other games of footy, which is a power game,” McGregor said.

“The impact him, Russell [Packer] and Jack de Belin have going together and the combination they have running at the moment is really good.

“We’ve been very blessed in that way in that we haven’t had our forwards off the field for much of this year. We’ve had a lot of other injuries through our outside backs and our halves, but that stability around that forward pack has really worked well.

“I think they’ve just got to keep working as a unit and not worry about individual stuff. When we work as a unit we’re a much better footy team. Paul’s a part of that starting unit and it’s important they continue to do that. Paul will continue to grow as a player while ever they’re working so hard for each other.”