It's been a headache at various stages this season, but Dragons coach Anthony Griffin feels a host of options in his spine shapes as the antidote to skipper Ben Hunt's absence through the Origin period.
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Hunt underlined his importance to his side's fortunes in scoring a try and laying on another as the Dragons staved off two comebacks to see off the Bulldogs 34-24 at Belmore on Sunday.
It was a vital two points heading into a bye ahead of the opening game of the Origin series where Hunt's certain to feature for Queensland.
Should he struggle to back up, or miss game's through the series, Griffin has a number of play-making options, including unleashing young gun Jayden Sullivan or slotting Moses Mbye into the halves.
Andrew McCullough's return from injury on Sunday also brings a much needed steady head as Griffin looks to navigate a make-or-break month of his side's campaign.
"Everyone's going to miss your important players but it's a whole new phase of the season this next six to eight weeks and you've got to find a way to keep the momentum going," Griffin said.
"I thought McCullough and Mbye did a great job today. McCullough turned a couple of opportunities into 12 points for us with his experience when he came on for us in that last 25 [minutes].
"I thought Cody [Ramsey] was outstanding again under Matt Burton's high balls. It was unfortunate he got thrown [into touch] there, he read that kick really well.
"Obviously Junior [Amone] played great today, young [Tyrell] Sloan and Sullivan had a good win in the twos today.
"Everyone we've brought in [to the spine's] done a good job. We scored 32 points which is enough to win two games so our attack's building nicely now."
It was as important a two points as the Dragons will pick up all season, with the victory heading into a bye squaring their win-loss ledger at 6-6 at the mid-point of their campaign.
With six of their next eight games coming against sides currently in the top eight, a loss to the last-placed Bulldogs could have put them in too deep a hole to climb out of.
"It was always going to be tough coming here to Belmore and they did what we expected them to do, they probably played their best game of footy for the year," Griffin said.
"To give up a 14-point lead, on this type of day with the Bulldogs desperate to win, for them to head us but still come back to win it again I thought we showed a heap of character.
"At the moment we're working harder than we need to.We clearly need to get smarter in a lot of areas of our game and we will.
"That's why I say the back end of our season will build nicely off the hard work we've done the last five or six weeks."
Much like Sunday's victory, the Dragons looked to have let their season slip on a number of occasions this only to string together some vital wins.
A golden-point loss to the Titans a fortnight ago was enough for some to put a line through their top-eight hopes, even with half a season remaining.
They responded with a comeback win over the Warriors last week and had to twice overcome a Dogs fight-back at their spiritual home.
Neither were the level of performance that will take them to a top eight finish, but the resilience leaves Griffin confident his side can build over the back half of the season.
"We've put ourselves in a position to finish the year [well] now," Griffin said.
"We've done a good job over the last seven weeks. Five or six weeks ago we were out of form, but we've done a good job to win the games we have.
"We won five out of seven and we've go to the bye now. We should've won six out seven. We're working really hard at the moment and we'll be better at the back end of the year."
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
