St George Illawarra hooker Mitch Rein has accepted a one-match suspension for a dangerous throw, opening the door for exciting youngster Shane Pumipi to make his mark in the top grade.
Pumipi made his debut off the bench in last week's loss to South Sydney, but Saturday night's clash with Cronulla at WIN Stadium presents a chance for the New Zealand-born rake to show off his abilities with the ball.
Rein took an early guilty plea for a second-half dangerous throw on Rabbitohs' forward Tom Burgess, giving his understudy a big chance to impress the new coach.
Paul McGregor, who was coaching the Illawarra Cutters' NSW Cup team before replacing Steve Price as NRL coach, is well aware of what Pumipi is capable of.
And McGregor has shown he's not afraid to shake things up in pursuit of a desperately needed win.
Rein is a defensive machine, but the Dragons' attack has failed to produce points this season.
Pumipi made 24 tackles in 24 minutes of game time against Souths, but didn't run the ball once.
McGregor will be encouraging the 24-year-old - a former NSW Cup player of the year when at Canterbury - to use his speed and power out of dummy-half against the Sharks.
"Yeah, he's a class player with the ball and without it," said Dragons fullback Adam Quinlan, who has played alongside Pumipi for the Cutters for most of the season.
"He's a great asset and you're going to get 110 per cent off him each week. He really puts his all in and he's worked really hard to get where he is now and I'm very happy for him."
Share
