St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor has warned the rest of the NRL to write off the Dragons at their own peril, saying his side are hardened to adversity.
Some have questioned whether the Red V can still contend for this year's premiership given the indefinite standing down of lock Jack de Belin.
De Belin last week became the first player to be sidelined as a result of the game's new behavioural policy and has been stood aside while he fights an aggravated sexual assault charge.
He has pleaded not guilty.
The Dragons' had been pencilled in by most pundits as top-four contenders.
However, the loss of de Belin shapes as a big blow after the NSW Origin representative last year established himself as one of the premier hard men of the game.
McGregor dismissed the suggestion they still couldn't match it with the top sides in the competition.
He pointed to last year's finals series, when they were without some of their biggest stars and still pulled off a monster upset win over Brisbane and went down to South Sydney by a field goal.
"I think we showed that last year," McGregor said.
"We didn't have Paul Vaughan for the finals series, we did alright without him.
"We lost Gareth (Widdop) going into the second final and we were up 8-2 at halftime until we lost Tariq (Sims). We lost Tariq and still only got beaten by a field goal.
"The same players are still here. No one's changed.
"It's just about now knuckling down and working towards what we need to do for round one. I think the resilience and learnings from last year are pretty important going into a fresh year."
Tyson Frizell was solid in the Dragon's trial loss to South Sydney on Saturday after being shifted from the edge into the middle after taking over de Belin's No.13 jumper.
Jacob Host made the most of his opportunity after being elevated into the starting side - taking Frizell's regular position - and McGregor said he would start the year as their first-choice right-edge back-rower.
"I thought (Host) played well. I thought he was one of the better players on the field for our side," McGregor said.
"He hit well in D and carried the ball strongly when he had to. It was good to give him 55 minutes there tonight. He'll find his way into the side."
