Dragons toy with line-up to fit in Dufty
RUGBY LEAGUE: St George Illawarra hooker Cameron McInnes will switch to lock during games this year as part of a plan to get 80kg livewire Matt Dufty into matches off the bench.
While Dragons coach Paul McGregor is yet to finalise his side for the opening round, Dufty is firming for a role as interchange ‘X-factor’ in a backline boasting Gareth Widdop, Ben Hunt and new No.6 Corey Norman.
Quizzed on how he would use the 23-year-old flyer in 2019, McGregor said Dufty would come into games at fullback, with Widdop then moving to six, Norman to seven, Hunt to nine and McInnes to lock.
“Matt’s important to what we do,” McGregor said. “He’s exciting and if we’re chasing points, we need him on the field.
“And he’s a fullback.
“So the versatility there is with those other players, they’ve played those positions (they would be moved to) before.”
And as for McInnes handling lock?
“He’ll be fine mate,” McGregor said.
“Cameron Murray does it for South Sydney and he (McInnes) is the same type of player.
“He’s played that role before at Souths and will handle it fine.”
While the Dragons had no issues scoring points against South Sydney in Saturday night’s Charity Shield match, the team’s edge defence came up with several worrying lapses.
Noticeably, the majority came on the right fringe that was once manned by NSW Origin star Tyson Frizell.
However with fellow Blue Jack de Belin now suspended, Frizell slipped into his No.13 jersey against the Bunnies and will likely play the first weeks of the season in the middle.
“Obviously we’ve got to fix our edge defence up,” McGregor said. “Just the communication and the trust in one another, too.
“When you move in someone new (to replace Frizell) you probably haven’t got that connection, that trust as much as you need it.
“But Tyson has been training on that right edge all preseason. We’ve only moved him this week.
“So the next person who goes there will have a couple of weeks at it to get things right.”