Dragons suffer heavy Charity Shield defeat in first outing under Flanagan

In a game that didn't nudge any great heights, the only reason the score wasn't locked at nil-all at halftime is because both sides gifted a try to the other in the three minutes before the break.

The Rabbitohs opening try to Jacob Host came after Lachlan Ilias jolted the ball from Tyrell Sloan's grasp 10 metres out from his own line, gifting the former Dragon the first four-pointer.

Souths ultimately returned the favour, with Isaiah Tass fumbling a tricky pass from Ilias straight into the arms of Mikaele Ravalawa, who raced 50 metres for the Dragons' first try.

Ravalawa's try courtesy of an error was the only four-pointer the Dragons could produce with their top squad on the park, though key man Ben Hunt played just the opening quarter.

The Rabbitohs only first-half points came in the same fashion, via an error, while Braidon Burns benefitted from a poor defensive read from Suli for his 48^th minute try.

Davvy Moale barged over from close range early in the final quarter after most notable names from both sides had left the park before Burns grabbed his second off a lofted Jarrett Subloo pass nine minutes from time.

That four pointer had much of the Red V faithful headed for the exits ahead of their side's 10^th loss in annual fixture in the last 12 years, a late try to Richard Kennar merely salt in the wounds.

The Dragons will next head to Mudgee to take on the Tigers next weekend. It's only preseason, but a similar performance to a Tigers side also on the rebuild will no doubt raise the ire of a Red V faithful desperate to see signs of life under Flanagan.

"I thought the first half was a really good competitive game, it was six-all at halftime when we had our [best] team on," Flanagan said.

"In the second half, it just probably shows where we are with our young kids. They're not up to it just as yet so they just got run over in the second half.

"When we had our best team on in the first half, I thought it was good, we had big blocks of defence, both sides scored tries off errors from the opposition.

"We made a few poor decisions, and offensively we could be a bit sharper. Sloany should have picked the ball up and walked over the try line. He made another break and didn't find the right pass.

"He had two people inside him there, so we left a couple of tries out there in the first half. It was a bit clunky for both, but I thought, the first half, we'll give it a tick, the second half we'll give it a cross.

Sloan's performance was always going to be the most scrutinised and, as is often the case, the 21-year-old was hit and miss at the back.

Sloan coughed up the ball early in the second quarter, and also fumbled what would have been a tough catch off a Viliame Fifita off-load close to the Rabbitohs line moments later.

He did produce the Dragons' only genuine line break of the first half off an inside ball from Hunt, but his attempted offload to looming support was wayward.

The most glaring error came three minutes before the break, losing the ball amid a heavy shot from Ilias to gift Jacob Host the opening try. On the plus side, he successfully defused seven kicks, busted five tackles and made six tackles at the back without a miss.

It was a performance Flanagan aptly described as a "mixed bag."

"He did some good things, but obviously, coming off your try line [he] gets an error and they score a try, which was a bit disappointing," Flanagan said.

"It's something we need to work on because he's got talent, but there's the yin and the yang isn't there? We just need to work that out.

"We've tried to toughen him up about those things there and make him really aware that you can't be thinking about other things. You need to be in the moment.

"They're going to come and jam you, it's a tough job in the NRL. There's no soft moments and unfortunately that was a soft moment."

Lomax was not too keen to talk about what position he'd be playing, or the number on his back, at the Dragons at the club's open media day earlier this week.

Having faced a similar shift from his preferred right centre position to the left side of the park under Anthony Griffin to start last season, Lomax started Saturday's clash on the right wing outside Jack Bird.

He saw little ball at the attacking end, and possibly even less in the second quarter when he was shifted back to the right edge to reprise his familiar double act with Ravalawa - who started the match partnering Moses Suli on the left.

Lomax had been tipped to spend some time at fullback, but Flanagan revealed post-game that back tightness had kept him on the edge.

"He did OK. He was struggling with a bit of a back injury the whole game, so we probably didn't see the best of him," Flanagan said.

"It's a work in progress there. He wasn't moving real well, so it was no use putting him back there. It was more to get a bit of game time into him and get him off if you rest him now.

"It was only a tight back. He was just having a back spasms, so it's not an injury. We'll see how he pulls up during the week. I'd like to think that he could get some time against the Tigers next week."