Dragons boosted by return of NSW stars

Both were among the Blues best in a last gasp loss to Queensland in game two on Wednesday night, with Frizell requiring a pain-killing injection to a niggling rib injury to make it onto the park.

He finished the match on the bench but McGregor confident both of his stars are fit to take the field.

“It’s the first time we’ve caught up with them today [Saturday]. They’ve got some bumps and bruises as you’d expect but they’re right to play,” McGregor said.

“I think it was just the rotation Laurie [Daley] was using, [Frizell] played 55 minutes straight there and he moved from the back-row to the middle and they pushed Boyd [Cordner] and Wade Graham to the edges.

“I think that’s just the plan they had similar to game one. Certainly if he was needed Tyson was ready to go back on. He’s pulled up as you do after Origin games, a little bit mentally fatigued as much as physically.

“They’ve had a couple of days off now and they’re looking forward to Sunday.”

McGregor was without the pair in a last-start 24-10 loss to Parramatta and welcomed their return as his side looks to break a run of two straight losses.

“They are important players to our football team,” McGregor said.

“They’re both current Australian [Test] players and it’s important they bring back that tough mental approach to a club game and lift other players around them as much as the players that are fresh need to.

“We’ve lost two games which is never great and the next one’s always important. Certainly we’ve looked to clear the mind and freshen the legs a bit this week.

“I think in the last few weeks we’ve gone away from a few little basics in the game. There were some good things to come out of the last two games, it’s just about some deficiencies that the opposition don’t control, we do.”

The Knights have won just two games this season but McGregor believes they are a superior side to the one that collected the wooden spoon in 2016.

“They’ve been in their games, in most of them they’ve been really competitive,”McGregor said.

“They’ve won a couple of games and they’ve held good teams to tight contests and they’re playing a decent brand of footy.

“They’re enthusiastic, they’ve got a lot of energy so we need to make sure we nullify that through our effort, our commitment and certainly our resolve.

“It’s an NRL game it’s going to be tough, they all are, and it’ll be no different on Sunday.”