It was on display in Sunday's 28-16 victory over Western and he's confident spectators at Sid Parrish Park will witness his player's ability when the team takes on Macarthur Wests Tigers on Saturday.

Wins are important to Hooper, but the coach's primary goal is to nurture the talent and development of his young players.

Read more:

It's a squad that includes emerging halves Ashton Ward and Kynan Clough and talented centre Kyle McCarthy, many predicting big things for the trio.

It's a task Hooper takes seriously and he's committed to helping every youngster in the under-18s representative side become the best player they can be.

"Our job is to develop these players," Hooper said. "We have to generate the skillset for individuals as much as the team environment. Rugby league is a team sport, if you go one-out you can't win. Our whole mantra is we'll go as a group.

"The most important part of development and our role is developing the skillset and letting the guys play what's in front of them. As they go up they'll probably be micro-managed a lot more than they are at this stage, we don't want to start doing that now."

Hooper was expecting rust from his side in last week's round-one clash against Western, but even he wasn't prepared for what transpired in the first 10 minutes.

In the blink of an eye, the Dragons were trailing 16-0 and set for a reality check.

Illawarra South Coast soon switched on, scoring 28 unanswered points to run over the top of their rivals.

The ability to overcome such a deficit is a sign of the talent within the squad, but Hooper said they cannot afford a repeat this weekend.

"The main goal this season is to be consistent. That starts with backing up this week against our neighbours, who will be up for this match.

"It's an old rivalry between the Southern Highlands and the Illawarra, so we're not looking past this weekend.

"We'll build on what we did last week, if we put in the work this week and work on what we're good at and what we were poor at, good things will come on the weekend."

The Laurie Daley Cup clash at Sid Parrish Park will follow an Andrew Johns Cup match between Illawarra South Coast and Macarthur Wests Tigers, which will kick off at 11am on Saturday.

The under 16 squad secured a 32-10 victory over the Western Rams last weekend.