Dragons plan to battle any post-Origin Blues

The Dragons had four players involved in Origin I on Wednesday night, with Jack de Belin and Paul Vaughan making their debuts for NSW alongside Tyson Frizell.

Halfback Ben Hunt carried a corked thigh into Queensland camp, while de Belin has battled a niggling hip injury for the last month.

There are no immediate fitness concerns for the quintet and they’ll have four days to recover ahead of Monday’s clash with the Bulldogs.

Widdop is confident the club has the depth should any need to be rested.

“If they're not right they obviously won't play,” Widdop said.

“Origin's really tough and the boys will never take the field if they're not right. There's no excuse for us [if they’re out], we've got to go out there and play to our standards.

“We've all got a role to play, people who have come in in place of them while they're away are doing a good job. We've got standards we live by and whoever comes in just has to live up to our standards as the Dragons.” 

Widdop witnessed the toll heavy rep commitments can have during his time in Melbourne and said it can derail a season if not managed properly.

“If you've got five or six players who play week in week out who are away, it can be disruptive if you don’t plan for it,” Widdop said.

“When you’ve few senior players playing Origin they're not there during the week so myself, James Graham and Cam McInnes will need to take a bit more control when they're not here.

“It make it a lot easier when there's a process and plan in place. The next man up just comes in, they know what they need to do and that's all they can control.

“We've been doing it since November, nothing's changed.” 

There’ll certainly be no excuses against the Bulldogs, with the rest of the squad not involved in Origin enjoying a 16 day turnaround following their round 12 loss to Penrith.

“It's a long time after a loss to sit around but it was a good time to get away and refresh the body and mind,” Widdop said. 

"We've some tough road trips and some big games so it was a good time for the boys to have a bit of a rest and refocus on what we're about.

“We've worked extremely hard to get where we are at the halfway mark of the season and we probably won't get a break now until the end of the year.

“We've earned what we've done so far, what we need to do now is get back to the process, playing to our standards.”