By Martin Gabor (NRL.com)
After a second straight loss to start the 2016 NRL season, Dragons coach Paul McGregor hasn't ruled out tinkering with his backline following another mixed showing from Kurt Mann and Josh Dugan in their new roles.
The latter, who suffered a hamstring injury midway through the second half, has been underused at right centre so far, while Mann has lacked the attacking punch Dugan provided at the back last season.
"We put a lot of work into it to be honest with you in the pre-season and it's only two games into the competition," McGregor said.
"He [Dugan] averaged 160 metres last year at the back, and we're certainly not getting that out of our back three at the moment so we'll look at that.
"I've always said that Josh is one of the best defensive – if not the best – defensive fullback in the game. We'll have to review that."
McGregor conceded Dugan wasn't getting as involved as he had hoped, but puts his lack of attacking output down to the Dragons' inability to complete sets more than anything else.
Dugan ran for just 40 metres on Sunday afternoon, while new recruit and incumbent fullback Kurt Mann made just 75 and also came up with four errors.
"Josh didn't get any clean ball today, but Josh didn't get any clean ball because we didn't have any field position because we turned the ball over," he said.
"They're both quality sides, Melbourne and Cronulla, and when you don't get your share of possession in the right areas, regardless of who's fullback or centre, you're not going to get opportunities."
The Dragons aren't the only club to have trialled new players in the No.1 jersey, with the Roosters this week abandoning the Blake Ferguson fullback experiment one game into the season.
Asked if he would consider doing something similar down the track, McGregor was fairly coy, saying: "I'll worry about that next week."
