The Dragons will open their season in Wollongong - a first for the joint-venture - against the Tigers on Sunday ahead of their first match at Kogarah against the Panthers in round two.

They then face the Raiders and Eels away, the Warriors at Kogarah, and then the Rabbitohs, Roosters and Storm in a testing three week stretch.

They'll face the Rabbitohs and Roosters in Sydney but travel south to take on the Storm in Melbourne.

With McGregor's job reportedly on the line, it's a high-pressure eight weeks, but Vaughan said his side is not looking at it as make or break.

"I honestly haven't looked at the draw or too far ahead so I'm just going to take it one week at a time and see how we go," Vaughan said.

"I understand why you say it's a hard draw, but every team's hard in their own way. It's the beginning of a new year and in the NRL there's never any easy games anyway.

"You get out there and put your best foot forward and just try to play the best that you can. We're not putting anything on hold, it's the start of a new season and we've got a lot to prove.

"We've got some new faces, all the boys have got a great attitude. It's been such a long preseason so the guys are just ready to get out there, have a good crack, and get the season underway."

The Dragons have endured a mixed preseason on a number of fronts. The club reached the final of the NRL Nines, but the tournament cost them skipper Cam McInnes and middle forward Korbin Sims for an extended period.

Josh Kerr is also out of contention for round one after suffering an MCL strain - the same injury McInnes picked up - while playing for the Indigenous All-Stars.

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They were handy 38-6 winners over Newcastle in their first trial outing but conceded 22 unanswered points in the second half of a 26-12 loss to the Rabbitohs in the Charity Shield a fortnight ago.

It's position as traditional season-opener saw the latter attract plenty of negative attention but Vaughan said both fixtures served their purpose.

"For a trial, you obviously want to get in there get all the work done and test the lungs out," Vaughan said.

"The Charity Shield was a good test, I think the first 40 was unreal. We did a lot of good work in our d.

"We had three or four repeat seats that we had to defend where, last year, we probably would've leaked a few points but we went in 12-4 at the break.

"We come through the trials with a couple of injuries, which isn't ideal, but we got a lot of what we needed to work on out of the way. All the work's been done now, and we've definitely done a lot of work with our game.

"It's just a good buzz when Monday of week one rolls around because the boys have been waiting for so long so it's a very exciting time."