Ramsey primed for Warriors barrage: Griffin

Ramsey will slip into his preferred No. 1 jumper for Saturday's clash with the Warriors at Kogarah for just the third time in his NRL career.

It comes at the expense of fellow young gun Tyrell Sloan, who paid the price for some costly errors in last week's golden-point loss to the Titans.

Ramsey has played 20 of his 24 NRL games on the wing, but was a leading contender for the fullback spot in the preseason, ultimately losing out to Sloan for round one.

It saw him start the season on the wing before missing a month with a hamstring injury picked up in the Dragons round-three loss to Cronulla in Wollongong.

Having made a solid return through the NSW Cup over the last month, Griffin said the time's right to give the 22-year-old a crack as custodian, though he's certain to cop a barrage aerially and on kick return.

"Any young fullback is going to have to stand there and cop that," Griffin said.

"If you're in the forwards it's a physical game but when you're in an isolated position like fullback and you're new in [it] they're going to test you out with the high balls. That's just how it happens.

"The thing with Cody is he's just such a great team man. It doesn't matter where he plays or which grade he plays, he gives his all.

"He's been playing really well and waiting for his chance. You can't predict sometimes how the season's going to roll. He hasn't played first grade since round three when he did his hamstring.

"He's rehabbed and come back really well through NSW Cup so it just happens this week that we can give him an opportunity at fullback. I'm sure he'll grab it with both hands."

The call to dump Sloan back to reserve grade for the second time this season has been hotly debated, with the 19-year-old having also copped the axe following the Dragons loss to the Sharks in round three.

Read more: St George Illawarra youngsters to learn hard lessons from Titans defeat

It's a steep learning curve, but Griffin said the move is part of a long game when it comes to the club's crop of emerging young guns.

"Sloany had a tough night there and we've just got to look after him at the moment," Griffin said.

"He's a really good kid and we know where we're going with him. At the moment it's better to bring Cody in there, take the pressure off [Sloan] and let him go back [to reserve grade] and work hard on his game.

"He's only a young guy and he obviously had a night where he won't get too many better lessons than that. We'll help him learn those and bring Cody in give him his chance."

The loss to the Titans saw the Dragons slip to 4-6 on the season ahead of Saturday's clash that sees the Warriors coming in with an identical win-loss record.

With a game against the strife-torn Bulldogs to follow heading into a bye round, Griffin's side can't afford to let the next couple slip if it wants to remain in finals contention.

"I know everyone does the numbers but the important thing for us is the next 24 hours and getting our preparation right," Griffin said.

"We know what we're capable of when we play our best football and last week we did an awful amount of things right. That first 20-25 minutes took a lot out of us, but I thought it was one our best performances as a team to be able to handle that punishment and come back.

"We obviously should have iced the game and we didn't so we've just got to keep building on that and have a better 80 minutes, a full 80 minutes, this week.

"We probaby left a couple of tries out there last week so that's something we've focused on this week. We need to execute better against the Warriors and have some confidence in ourselves."

Download the Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Sign up for breaking news emails below ...