Dragons 2019: McGregor not eyeing milestone just yet

The club confirmed on Thursday that McGregor will remain at the helm for a further two seasons beyond his side's 2019 campaign.

It's one less headache for the 51-year-old in a season that's already offered plenty, including the Jack de Belin court saga and a long-term injury to skipper Gareth Widdop.

It's been arguably the most challenging start to a campaign in his five seasons in charge, which is why he's certainly not eyeing a milestone two seasons down the track.

"We'll celebrate that when it gets there," he said.

"It is nice to have a real focus and purpose for the next two years. It's great that it's out of the way early in the year.

"We've certainly had some distractions off the field, the players have been asking [about it] so there's good clarity around that for them.

"There's always speculation out there and sometimes the commentary around it can get in the way so it's great that's been put aside.

"To be settled for another two years is really important but for me nothing much changes."

McGregor's five years in charge have seen a huge turnover in the playing roster in partnership with recruitment chief Ian Millward.

It's time not all rookie coaches are afforded in the cut-throat world of the NRL and McGregor says he's certainly grown wiser through his time in the role.

"The past is the past but you've got to learn from it for sure and grow and have a growth mindset," he said.

"Unless you're a club that's had recent success it takes time to build. At times coaches don't get the time to do that but I think the [club] board's seen how hard we're working behind the scenes to not just worry about the W and the L come the weekend but what's happening underneath it.

"We've got stability around our junior development, our pathways are strong, our [salary] cap's in really good shape going forward.

"I've got quality staff, I've got quality people as players and that doesn't take a day to do, it takes years to do.

"We're fortunate now to have a real stable environment around the work place and we just need to continue what we're doing at the present time.

After dropping their first two games of the year, the Dragons have steadied to 3-2 on the season on the back three straight wins.

They could potentially climb into the top four with a win over Manly in Wollongong on Saturday, with the Sea Eagles riding a three-game winning streak.

"They've had three good wins the last three weeks," McGregor said.

"We know they're good football team. They've got some world class players in there.

"We're preparing the way we've prepared the last three weeks, we've got to get our defence right first. That's the main focus in our game.

"We've got enough attacking options that, if we're patient with the football, we can work teams over.

"It's just about replicating what we're done the last couple of weeks through the attitude in our defence."

The Dragons are expected to be boosted by the inclusion of in-form prop Paul Vaughan after he hobbled from the field against the Bulldogs last week.

"Vaughany ran yesterday [Wednesday] which is really pleasing," McGregor said.

"We weren't sure post-game. We didn't put him back on there after he got that nasty turn from the player [Sue Sauaso] who got suspended from it so it was an ugly incident, one we don't want to see in the game.

"He did run, it was straight line running [only] but he was free of any pain which is good.

"We'll make a decision [on Friday] after the captain's run. If he gets the contact done and gets through the captain's run he'll play.

"If there's any doubt he can do what he needs to do [on Friday] we won't play him on Saturday."