DE BELIN LEAVES DRAGONS GAP
THE Dragons are confident they won’t be left wanting against the star-studded Cowboys pack in tomorrow night’s NRL season opener despite being without representative lock Jack de Belin.
De Belin did not travel to Townsville yesterday under the NRL’S new “no-fault” stand down policy after he was charged with aggravated sexual assault during the offseason.
De Belin has been a workhorse for the Dragons and prop Jeremy Latimore admitted he was a significant loss against a Cowboys side which he described as the biggest forward challenge in the NRL, with the likes of Matt Scott, Jordan Mclean, Jason Taumalolo and new recruit Josh Mcguire.
Tyson Frizell will wear the No. 13 jersey in place of de Belin tomorrow night and Latimore said the onus was on every Dragons player to step up to try to fill the void.
“Jack’s very hard to replace. He was very good for us last year, but with that it creates an opportunity for an- other bloke,” Latimore said.
“This week Tyson Frizell will play 13. He’s played there at a higher level in the NSW and the Australian team so he gets an opportunity now to come out and do it for us.
“There’s also Blake Lawrie and myself so hopefully we can step up and take some of Jack’s roles.” De Belin will miss at least the first month of this season as he challenges the NRL’S stand down policy in court.
However, Dragons centre Euan Aitken insisted that offfield drama had not been a distraction.
“We’re all there for Jack and I think that’s the most important thing … it’s not a distraction. We know our roles so we’ll do our best to get out there,” Aitken said.
The Dragons will be up against a familiar face in Cowboys winger Nene MacDonald, who moved home to Townsville during the off- season, and Aitken expected he would have a spring in his step against his former club.
“Nene’s going to be pretty revved up,” Aitken said.
“He’s very strong with his backfield carries so we’ve just got to make sure we get at his legs and he doesn’t get too much chance to wind up.”