In his first preseason outing, Lomax had a hand in three of his side's tries through 60 minutes and kicked four goals from five attempts, all from out wide, before being spelled for the final 20 minutes of a match played in four quarters at Maitland Showground.

McGregor has publicly put faith in the 20-year-old, who recently inked a mammoth five-year deal with the club, in a new-look spine that will still have major question marks hanging over it come round one.

Lomax's performance was the second biggest positive for McGregor - after escaping injury-free - while Jordan Pereira made a compelling pitch for a starting wing spot with four tries on the left flank.

With skipper Cameron McInnes a high profile injury absence and Isaac Luke away on Maori All-Stars duty, new acquisition Billy Brittain had some nice touches at dummy-half on just a week's preparation.

First-choice halves Ben Hunt and Corey Norman didn't feature after halftime, with the likes of Tyson Frizell, Tariq Sims and Paul Vaugahn also given early marks as McGregor took no chances on the injury front. Counterpart Adam O'Brien did the same in the second half that saw largely second-string sides fight it out.

Neither side could find the line in a largely scrappy opening quarter, the Knights having the bulk of possession and field position without turning it into points. They got their joy three minutes into the second quarter when hooker Chris Randall crossed from an off-load from Daniel Saifiti. Tex Hoy converted for a 6-0 lead.

After sluggish start the visitors opened their account through Mikaele Ravakawa, who dashed 50 metres after a nice cut-out ball from Lomax who also nailed the sideline conversion to level up at 6 apiece.

Ravalawa crossed again on the stroke of halftime from a lifted ball from Hunt only to find the touchline before the try-line, leaving the score at 6-all at the main break.

Adam Clune handled twice in lead up to Jordan Pereira's first try, with Lomax throwing the final pass, just two minutes into the third quarter. Pereira grabbed his second on the Dragons next journey up the park, crossing off a nice shift from Tristan Sailor - who spent the bulk of his time in the halves.

Lomax pulled down an attacking bomb from Sailor minutes later to put Brayden Wiliame over for his first try in Dragons colours, adding the extras on what was his easiest task of the afternoon with the tee.

Pereira got his hat-trick off a long ball from Clune moments before three-quarter time, with Lomax missing for the first time and keeping the lead at 28-6 at three-quarter-time.

Luke Huth finally hit back for the Knights early in the fourth quarter before Pereira grabbed his fourth try and Clune also bagged a deserved four-pointer after a break from Williame to bring the finals score to 38-12.

The Dragons will now had into camp at Nelsons Bay before heading west to Mudgee for next weekend's Charity Shield showdown with old foes South Sydney.