A target has been quickly placed on Scott Drinkwater's back by St George Illawarra after the ex-Melbourne No.1 was thrust into North Queensland's line-up for Friday's NRL showdown.
Cowboys coach Paul Green has wasted little time introducing the mid-season recruit to his starting side as 11th-placed North Queensland try to rejuvenate their NRL season.
Drinkwater will run out on Cowboys debut at fullback, forcing a major backline reshuffle that pushes Queensland star Michael Morgan back to the halves and Kiwi international Jordan Kahu to the centres.
Not that Dragons coach Paul McGregor has any complaints.
The St George Illawarra mentor reckons his 13th-placed outfit can exploit Drinkwater's sudden rise as they look to turn around a horror run of six losses in seven games.
While McGregor admitted Drinkwater would be well drilled on the fullback role after being coached by Storm great Billy Slater, the Dragons mentor believed the recruit could be a chink in the Cowboys armour just days after arriving in Townsville.
"He'll need to learn their system pretty quick which is hard to do in a short amount of time," he said.
"He''ll be excited so we will have to take that excitement away from him."
But Green backed Drinkwater to answer the challenge.
"Obviously he is not going to be completely across everything and that is understandable - it's obviously a fair bit to take in a short week," he said.
"But he has fitted in well. He's pretty switched on footy-wise."
McGregor said his side - just one win outside the top eight - had welcomed back their Origin stars Ben Hunt, Tyson Frizell, Tariq Sims and Paul Vaughan.
However McGregor admitted centre Tim Lafai (ankle) was "50-50".
Meanwhile, Green said veteran prop Matt Scott (shoulder) looked set to return to the NRL next week.
STATS THAT MATTER
* The Dragons are aiming to win three straight games against the Cowboys at WIN Stadium for the second time since 2000-02.
* The Dragons have conceded the equal most tries per game (four), second most points per game (23) and the second most metres per game (1493).
* The Cowboys have conceded the most line breaks per game this season (5.1) and have made the second fewest per game (3.1)
Australian Associated Press
