Rolling with it: McGregor confident Dragons can clear mid-season hurdles

Normally a composed character, McGregor was entitled to come in off the long run after watching his side concede 28 points in 20 minutes to side hunting just their third win of the season.

The response was emphatic, with the Dragons piling on 22 unanswered points to stay within reach of the top four. 

Had the Knights held on, it would hardly have sounded the death knell on the Dragons finals charge, but McGregor said it as still a line in the sand moment. 

“The next 40 minutes was not going to define our year, but it was going to define what we’re about,” McGregor said.

“Browny [Nathan Brown] said they played their best 30 minutes of football in that half and we probably played our worst.

“I’ve been very impressed with how we’ve gone about our work this year and the boys should be very proud of that. I just thought we didn't want to give that away.

“When you’re behind by that score-line you’re not looking to win, you’re looking to turn around what you did wrong and then the win will come on the back of it.

“I liked what we did in the second half, I liked the turnaround and the way the boys put the words into action after halftime. To score 22 points to zero in the second half is a really good way to go into this week.”

It was one of just three wins from their past eight games, all against sides outside the top eight, but McGregor put the the tough run down to the regular ebbs and flows of an NRL season.

“At some stage during the year every team’s going to have a little bit of a flat spot, what’s important is how you come out of it at the other end,” McGregor said.

“We’re a good enough side to score points and if we give ourselves even possession and a good opportunity we’ll score points. 

“We play risk-reward game of footy. If you look at our off-loads, our line-breaks and the way we play… there’s a bit of risk in it but there’s a lot of reward in it.

“At some stage you’re going to give errors away and you’re going to get penalties go against you. It’s your resilience to overcome that that’s really important. We’ve done that really well for most of the year, we’ve just fallen away from it in the last three weeks.”

The loss to the Knights has prompted at least one change, with newly re-signed utility Kurt Mann getting a start at No. 7 against Gold Coast on Friday, with Josh McCrone shifting to the bench.

“I couldn’t let Kurt not play in the starting 13 to be totally honest,” McGregor said.

“The way he plays, his determination, the way he competes on everything… he’s just too valuable to our side at the moment so we needed to find a spot for him.

“Josh has been a real big part of what we’ve done this year and still important to us. He’s in our 17.”

The shift will thrust greater organisational responsibilities on skipper Gareth Widdop, but McGregor is confident he can form a potent combination with Mann.

“The way we play won’t change too much, we’ll just get more of a running threat from Kurt and obviously there’ll be a bit more emphasis on Gareth in our kicking game,” he said.