St George-Illawarra coach Paul McGregor is confident his team's attack will finally begin firing on all cylinders once he settles down on who his first-choice halfback will be.
McGregor admitted he is still yet to decide on who will wear the No.7 jumper this season after Josh McCrone and Jai Field fired blanks in their Charity Shield shootout on Sunday.
The Dragons spurned numerous opportunities in good territory as they were thumped 32-14 at ANZ Stadium, extending their losing run to five games in the annual fixture.
Veteran McCrone laid on one try in the first half before handing the reins to rookie Field, who had some nice touches but was otherwise well-contained in the second period.
McGregor was non-committal when pressed on his halfback prospects, however did concede he would seek the advice of his senior players on the crucial selection.
"I'll have a good look at the video, talk to some leaders, look at what different players bring to the team and what the team needs for round one and the opposition we're playing," he said.
"They're two totally different players.
"Josh is a real tradesman, a seasoned player with good experience. And we've got Jai, who's an emerging, exciting young talent and when he gets the ball in his hands, he's quite special.
"So we've just got to look at this next week, ten days, to work out which one - or both could be a possibility too - (will) be in the 17."
Commentators were once again critical of the Dragons' lateral attack, with key ball-handlers Widdop and fullback Josh Dugan often getting cramped for space in their set pieces.
McGregor said the trial was a good case for finding out which players were up to the task.
"You don't like the performance when you get beaten in that scoreline. But certainly it was about leaving players out there for longer minutes which we did," he said.
"Certainly our cohesion will pick up because that's the first time that group has played together. We created a few opportunities, just didn't finish off at times.
"That'll pick up in the next couple of weeks."
Widdop, who played alongside both players in what was his first appearance of the pre-season, remained confident either player could do the job but said he was concerned about execution.
"It's always good when you've got people fighting for position, it's healthy competition. They both had a crack tonight. Whichever way he goes, I'm sure he'll do a great job," Widdop said.
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