DRAGONS coach Paul McGregor admits his side missed the jump when it came to post-shutdown rule changes, but he's confident latest tweak won't derail it a second time round.
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Many expected changes to six-again rule to favour McGregor's side but they ultimately had the opposite effect, with the Dragons easy pickings in games against the lowly Warriors and Bulldogs - failing to post a try in consecutive losses.
It brought a shift in tactics, largely freeing up livewire fullback Matt Dufty, that saw them post wins over the Sharks and Titans and get well within reach of reigning premiers the Roosters this week.
The NRL has made another adjustment this week, broadening the six-again rue to apply to infringements at marker, but McGregor said his side is far better equipped to adjust.
"It'll make a difference for sure," McGregor said of the change.
"The six again just brings fatigue into the game. When you've got fatigue and you have to defend for a long period of time, you lose momentum and the other team gains momentum.
"Its about how you deal with that and how you change that momentum at different stages. We're adapting to the game better, you can see the way we're playing with the footy's different to how it was in the past.
"We've got some steps forward to go, but we're in the right direction. We didn't look for the big knockout blow, we just continued to work on small parts of our game that we need to continually improve.
"In defeat, that was our best performance last week but it's about sustained improvement and effort over the a longer period of the game."
While Dufty's form surge has been the main factor, shifting Ben Hunt to the interchange hooking role has given the attack a much different look over the past month.
The former Queensland No. 7 has made no secret of his desire to return to the halves at some stage, something that's a regular topic of conversation at newly formed selection committee meetings.
It remains a week by week call, but McGregor says his million-dollar man is likely to remain in the No. 14 for the foreseeable future.
"It's been brought up in discussion in and around the selection of the team each week," McGregor said of Hunt's role.
"The combination at the moment's working well and it's building. Ben's a big part of that, he plays 50-plus minutes of that rotation with the combination of the five spine [players].
"[As for] coming weeks, we'll leave it to when it gets brought up next week in selection meetings but, certainly you can see the combinations building with the more time that Adam Clune gets on the field in and around Corey [Norman] and Duf, Cam starting the game and the difference Benny brings when he comes on the field.
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"The more time Benny gets at nine the more hardened for that position he's going to be going forward."