Sloan to play bench weapon role against Cowboys

Mbye, who played six straight games at fullback earlier this season, shifted to fullback in the Dragons last-start 20-6 win over Manly after Cody Ramsey left the field with a knee injury just 11 minutes in.

Ramsey joined a lengthening list of outside backs sidelined with injury, with Griffin resisting the temptation to lob Sloan straight back into the high-pressure custodian role having been sent back to reserve grade twice this season on the back of losses.

Instead, Sloan will make his first NRL appearance since round 10 from the bench, with Griffin envisioning a number of scenarios to get the livewire 20-year-old into the game.

"We've got a couple of situations during the game interchange-wise where we might get him into the game but also you've got to feel for how the game's going at the time," Griffin said.

"Its good to be able to give him another chance there so, at some stage, we'll put him into the game.

"Mo just does a great job with our last plays and organising our defensive line. I thought he was fantastic when he went back there last week, he absorbed a lot of pressure from the opposition. He's a cool head out there as well so we'll start with him."

Ramsey's injury was the only hiccup in an important win over Manly, but the 11th-placed Dragons will start as lengthy outsiders against the Cowboys but, with their finals chances on the line, it does little to ease any pressure on Griffin or his side.

"Internally we don't get bogged down in those sort of perceptions," Griffin said.

"We were really pleased last week with the way we beat Manly and the only thing we're concerned with is our performance tomorrow afternoon and building on what we did last week.

"It was a really good 80 minutes against Manly. It was good for the players to feel that type of performance, I thought we did all the little things right for most of the night. It's a different situation tomorrow, the Cowboys are obviously second on the ladder and they're going really well so we'll have to be good.

"For us it's purely about building on last week and making sure we're in control of our own game. We're under no illusions as to how tough it's going to be against the Cowboys, but the focus for us is really internal and making sure we build on what we did last week.

"We've got another level in us and we strive to find that. If we do that, no matter who we play, we'll be hard to beat."

Read more: Tyrell Sloan primed for NRL recall against Cowboys

People have suggest the Cowboys have shown some post-Origin blues over the last fortnight, conceding an uncharacteristic 26 points in a loss to Cronulla, while they needed a great escape to sneak past the last-placed Tigers in controversial circumstances last week.

For his part, Griffin isn't seeing any signs of a lull from the 2022 surprise packets.

"Where they are on the ladder reflects where they're at, they're the second best team in the competition," Griffin said.

"At this stage of the year you don't get there by accident. They wouldn't have been totally happy with their effort last week but against Cronulla [the week before] they played really tough all night post-Origin.

"Last week, when they needed to in the second half, they clicked up into another gear. The last three or four minutes probably shocked them more than anything. They were in control of the game and, to the Tigers credit, they threw a couple of plays at them and broke them open, but they'll learn from that no doubt."

While it's been a much quieter build-up than the seven days leading into last week's win over the Sea Eagles, there has been some off-field developments, with Griffin informing assistant coaches Peter Gentle and Mat Head that they will not be part of his staff next season.

Gentle joined the club with Griffin ahead of last season, while Head was only promoted to a lead assistant's role this season. It remains to be seen who will replace them, with Griffin tight-lipped on the matter on Saturday.

"It was my call, but I don't want to go into details with that," he said.

"That's something for next year, it's not about what we're doing now."

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