Youngsters like Tyrell Sloan and Talatau Amone have turned heads for the right reasons in a first-up win over the Warriors and game close-run defeat to defending premiers Penrith.

Thursday's local derby at a sodden WIN Stadium was a harsher lesson in the week-to-week grind that is the NRL.

The tough conditions saw Anthony Griffin pull some switches out of the bag in the second half, with Cody Ramsey shifting to fullback.

Jack Bird also spent the last quarter of the match at five-eighth, with Amone shifting to dummy-half, but Griffin said it was a preconceived move.

"We always had a plan to rest Moses [Mbye] up. It's the first time he's been at hooker from the start and it was just a way to get him off," Griffin said.

"It was just a tactical change, we were probably going to make whether we were in front or not.

"Tyrell was just having a bit of a tough night. He'd had a lot to do and the game was gone anyway so we just gave Cody some minutes there. We've done that before.

"There's no issues with him. He's done a lot of good things for us this year already. It's just the way the game went."

Mbye, who was brought to the club in part to mentor its rising stars, says the bounce back against Parramatta this week is key.

"Those guys have shown they can play footy but the next step's being able to do it consistently week after week," Mbye said.

"First season in it is a big challenge. It's something that takes a lot of time to understand how you do it. We've got to be patient with those boys.

"I think a game like [Thursday night] against a quality, well-drilled team like the Sharks is a really good learning curve and they'll get a lot out of it if they want to.

"I think it's going to be a big responsibility [this week] for the guys with a bit more experience being there for a bit of assistance for those guys."

It was an equally gruelling night for Mbye, who punched out 62 minutes after starting at dummy-half in the absence of the injured Andrew McCullough.

He may or may not reprise that role against the Eels this weekend, with McCullough a chance at returning from a dislocated elbow suffered in round two.

Read more: Su'A facing suspension after second sin-binning in as many games

Brought to the club for his utility value, Mbye said he'll happily play any role required of him.

"I haven't played [hooker] for a while, I haven't played a full game for a long time so I was pretty happy to punch out a few minutes there," he said.

"We were just going to see how far we could get with it and the Sharks played pretty well and made me do a tonne of work in the middle there.

"That was always going to be my role coming to the club. That's what we spoke about when I signed here, it was going to be that support role for whoever goes down.

"Sin-bins, HIA's, injuries, COVID now, you're going to get an opportunity somewhere. We've just got to keep working hard at what we're doing and I know I'll get plenty of chances there."

He and coach Anthony Griffin will be hoping the Dragons can simply get through an 80 minutes with 13 men on the field having lost Jaydn Su'A at crucial point of back-to-back losses.

The second trip to the bin will also see Su'A miss Sunday's clash with Parramatta should he take the early guilty plea to a grade-two careless high tackle charge as a result of his shot on Sharks skipper Dale Finucane.

"I think we've had a sin-bin in all three of our games, five if you include our trials," Mbye said.

"We felt that brunt of that and we'll have a look at it and see how we can fix it."

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