Dragons coach Wade Forrester was forced into a reshuffle, with regular No. 7 Cameron Vazzoler a key withdrawal through injury, but his side did enough to eek out an eight-point victory against a willing Rams outfit.

The Dragons led 12-6 midway through the first half, and 22-12 deep into the second only for the visitors to draw level on both occasions before a penalty goal to Jackson Willis and Tom Angel's 76th-minute four-pointer sealed the deal.

Forrester was pleased with the win, but said there were plenty of lessons for his side, who were out-enthused and out-hustled in long stretches.

"We did enough to win the game and tick the box," Forrester said.

"We spoke about that at the smart of the competition, ticking those boxes. We certainly made it hard on ourselves in every facet of play but we toughed it out, which was the pleasing part.

"We could've just turned it up and said 'it's too hard today' but they kept turning up and got the win at the end of the day. We did that today but hopefully they've learned some lessons in intensity and enthusiasm.

"There were some lessons learned in how to prepare for a game as well and attention to detail in those areas but it's pleasing to get through with a tough win."

In Vazzoler's absence, Zaan Weatherall and Jackson Willis did enough to steer their side home, while Juvilee Samiu and Josh Dowel were outstanding up front.

The limited preparation saw Forrester lean on the simple team-first ethos that spurred his side to last year's trophy.

"We'e always talked about buying into the jersey and what the competition's all about and you've just got to make the most of it," Forrester said.

"It's just about turning up, putting the jersey on and bleeding for the bloke next to you. If you get put in a position you're not familiar with, just go and do your job. Make your tackles, have your carries.

"We did that today. We've still got a good core nucleus of players and as long as the guys that come in do their job we'll give ourselves an opportunity and that's all we're after."

The Rams opened the scoring through the first of four tries to fullback Will Lousick but the hosts hit back quickly through Samiu and Jason Gillard.

Lousick grabbed his second to square the ledger before tries to Angel and Joe Dickson saw the hosts take a 22-12 lead to the break.

Lousick completed his hat-trick early in the second stanza after a break from deep in the Rams own end to cut the margin back to a single converted try.

He followed up some similarly impressive lead-up work from Jesse Wighton to grab his fourth try and draw level at 22-all midway through the half. Willis steadied with a key penalty goal before Angel sealed the win with his second try with four minutes left.