Coach Paul McGregor has backed workhorse forward Jack de Belin to prove his fitness, with two weeks left to secure a spot in the NSW State of Origin team.
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De Belin struggled with a hip injury in the loss to South Sydney at ANZ Stadium on Sunday, just the ladder-leading Dragons’ second of the season.
Afterward, McGregor admitted he risked playing de Belin, who was not fully-fit.
“Jack was one of them guys that didn’t train all week and played pretty much no minutes,” McGregor said after the Rabbitohs loss.
“We used two interchanges on it. It’s a bit of a lesson there.”
It was a tough afternoon for the high-flying Dragons.
Kurt Mann also failed to finish the game because of concussion, while likely Queensland halfback Ben Hunt struggled with a corked leg.
However, McGregor named all three in a 21-man squad to take on Canberra at Mudgee on Sunday.
The Dragons meet the Raiders and then Penrith before new NSW coach Brad Fittler names the team for game one in Melbourne on June 6.
De Belin, second-rower Tariq Sims, hooker Cameron McInnes, centre Euan Aitken and prop Paul Vaughan are all under NSW consideration, while forward Tyson Frizell is expected to be chosen.
Frizell said the loss to Souths was a wake-up call after an outstanding start to the season, which still sees them one-game clear of the Panthers at the top of the ladder.
“It’s good for us if teams want to bring their A-game every week to play us,” Frizell said. “Leading into the back end of the season, playing a tough game every week is quite good. You’d like to win them all, you’d like to be up for every game. I guess they wanted it more today.
“It’s a massive learning curve for us but we’ll be better next week. We’re disappointed but we know we need to move on. We’ll get through this quite quickly.”
Hunt, as the form halfback in the competition is now eyeing a leadership role in the Queensland camp, following the retirement of hooker Cameron Smith and playmakers Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston.
However last month, Fittler declared he was prepared to have Sims shut Hunt down, as the left-sided second-rower, in what would be an extraordinary sub-plot to a new era of Origin.
McGregor named powerful forward Blake Lawrie in the Dragons’ 17, which would see him make his NRL debut against the Raiders.
Lawrie has played for the junior Kangaroos and NSW under 20s representative teams.