Griffin's side dropped its first trial to World Club Challenge-bound St Helens 30-18 on Saturday night with a host of big guns watching on, headed by the likes of Ben Hunt, Jaydn Su'A, Aaron Woods, Jayden Sullivan, de Belin and Bird.

Tyrell Sloan, Tyrell Fuimaono and Josh Kerr were also unavailable as they featured the Indigenous All-Stars' win over the Maori All-Stars earlier on Saturday.

Griffin expects to have most on deck for the trip to Mudgee but Bird, who shapes as a first-choice half following the stand-down of Talatau Amone, remains sidelined after undergoing clean-out surgery on his knee last week.

Read more: St Helens too strong for undermanned Dragons in Wollongong

De Belin is nursing a calf niggle but, with a week-one bye providing an extra week's preparation, Griffin is confident both will be fit for the Dragons opening game against the Titans in round two.

"We had 14 we didn't play [on Saturday], but I think everyone except Bird and de Belin will play next week so we've got a dozen to come in," Griffin said.

"[Bird] will be ready for our round one. He obviously won't play next week against Souths, but it was [just] a minor clean-up of some meniscus so he'll be ready for the first NRL game.

"[De Belin] hasn't got a tear there, it's just a little bit weak on him at the moment so we're treating it with a lot of caution. He'll be right for round one (two).

"If we were in season and it was an important game he could play, but at this time of year we're not going to risk it. They all happen for a reason, it gave us a chance to give a lot of people some more time."

With the likes of Hunt, Sullivan and Bird not available, Griffin ran out a spine unrecognisable to all but the most die-hard fans, with regular dummy-halves Moses Mbye and Connor Muhleisen in the halves and youngster Treigh Stewart at fullback.

Despite the drain on depth, Griffin found a lot to like in the effort, particularly from the club's emerging forward stocks.

"It was a good hit-out. It was different obviously, but it was a really good opportunity for a lot of our young guys to play against a side like that," Griffin said.

"We weren't playing Ben [Hunt], and Sullivan will be right next week, so we basically went in with three hookers with Moey playing halfback, even though he's played half before.

"I thought they did a really good job, they gave us a solid platform to work off. We cycled pretty well all night, but just the finer arts of having your [true] halves there, the finish to sets and little bit of execution [was lacking].

"I was really happy with our younger guys, the Couchmans' (Ryan and Toby) and Dylan Egan. They got thrown in there earlier and they did a really good job.

"Those type of games give you a chance to build a bit of depth. It's hard to do it on the training paddock all the time, so it was an ideal game for us to give all those guys a game."

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A round-one bye is far from the ideal scenario for a side on need of a fast start, but Griffin has found silver linings to the schedule.

"We sat down when we knew we had the bye and worked out a training load plan which is a little bit different," Griffin said.

"The advantage for us is that both our trials are high intensity. The Charity Shield is always a little bit more than a trial against a good side like Souths so we get two really good hit-outs.

"It was a high intensity trial [against St Helens], it was a bit different to a lot of the ones that went on over the weekend. We were playing a team at full strength trying to win the World Club Challenge so it was a great opportunity to get our guys a really good test."

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