With a combined 10 players missing due to Origin commitments, the two youthful line-ups put on a show at AAMI Park to the tune of 82 points and 14 tries.

It was a result that went against the trend of dour matches depleted sides traditionally produce during the Origin period. 

It was also the only match this season the Dragons will be forced to play without their Origin contingent and sees them come through the rep season with a 3-1 record.

In a tit-for-tat battle McGregor conceded his young side did not show the composure to close out the match when leading by two with 17 minutes to play.

It was a tough lesson, but one his young crop will need to take out of the match should they be called on again if injuries or suspension strike.

“We’ve certainly got to look at the game because the players we were missing tonight could be missing in the future,” McGregor said.

“The players that played [on Thursday] could be playing so they’ve got to learn from it. We were in front with 17 minutes to go and then James [Graham] went off with an HIA. It’s pretty important when you’ve already lost your four [Origin] forwards that didn’t start.

“When you lose another senior player on the field at a time when you need to close the game out it hurts a bit, but I’m not going to use any of it as an excuse.

“Those [young] guys have been preparing and waiting for that opportunity for a long time. Everyone needs to be able to be a little bit better and we weren’t.” 

The Dragons already stretched forwards depth was tested after just five minutes with Jacob Host suffering a dislocated shoulder in an attempted tackle on Ryan Hoffman.

It forced McGregor to deploy winger-cum-bench utility Jason Nightingale on the right edge next to debutant half Darren Nicholls, something the Storm exploited on a number of occasions. 

“He’s popped his shoulder, it popped out and came back in,” McGregor said of Host’s injury

“Defensively, our right edge was affected a little bit by the interchange early. [Nicholls] was on that right edge and he lost his back-rower which is really difficult.

“Jase did a job for us there but he’s never played tight like that as a back-rower. That affected us in d.”