Much of the Red V faithful have been vowing to stay away in droves, but these three hardy souls set up camp in behind the fence at the southern end waving their banner.

They were ultimately rewarded with their side's first win of the season, a much-needed one with the club seemingly on the brink of implosion heading in.

The victory over their arch-rivals will hardly see the fans flocking back - even though Gladys Berejiklian opened the door for it on Sunday - but it was a relieving victory.

Relieving for coach Paul McGregor, who's experienced bigger wins, but perhaps no bigger relief during his tenure.

After dodging the axe earlier in the week, McGregor bit the bullet shifted under-fire half Ben Hunt to the bench utility role in which he's excelled at rep level.

It saw Corey Norman shift back to the halves and gave Matt Dufty the start at fullback. It worked a treat, with Dufty laying on a try and scoring another, while Hunt did the same either side of halftime after being injected at dummy-half midway through the first half.

James Graham also shifted to interchange for Trent Merrin, with both producing their best game of the season.

It breaks their duck and they'll be confident they can make it two on the bounce when they head north to face perennial cellar-dwellers Gold Coast next weekend.

The local derby - in Campbelltown - was dramatically brought forward from its scheduled 6.30pm kickoff to 4.05 after a COVID-19 scare prompted the postponement of the earlier match between the Bulldogs and Roosters.

Dufty crossed just five minutes in only to be denied by the bunker finding Zac Lomax obstructed Chad Townsend in the lead-up.

The Sharks compounded the blow at the other end minutes later, with Dugan producing a neat round the corner off-load for Mawene Hiroti to cross for the opening try and a 4-0 lead.

The Dragons bounce-back was swift, with Mikaele Ravalawa skirting the same touchline for his side's first four-pointer eight minutes later.

Lomax nailed the sideline conversion for a 6-4 lead after 14 minutes. It was short-lived, wit Sione Katoa crossing out wide after Ravalawa spilled the ball 10 out for his own line.

Shaun Johnson was on-song from the sideline, extending the margin to four midway through the half. He was denied a try under the posts minutes later, with the bunker again finding an obstruction in the lead-up.

It proved a key turnaround once again, with Dufty barging across off a deft short-ball from Norman to re-take the lead via Lomax's conversion.

Hunt crossed less than a minute before the break, with Lomax converting for a handy eight-point cushion at halftime.

The Dragons looked to get out of jail when Lomax inexplicably looked to pass in his own in-goal only for the bunker to rule Connor Tracey deflected the ball forward, denying Wade Graham a try.

The hosts ran with the good fortune, building a mountain of pressure at the other end with Hunt putting McInnes over under the black dot. Lomax converted from in front for a 24-10 lead with 17 minutes to play.

Having led both of their opening two matches only to fade, there was no room to relax, with the Sharks eventually hitting back through Graham with 11 minutes left.

They went close to following up after Norman was penalised for tripping only for Frizell to make a try-saving tackle of a flying Will Kennedy.

That play ultimately iced the game before Ravalawa crossed for the exclamation point in the 79^th minute, Lomax continuing a faultless afternoon off the tee.