Paul McGregor admits he is frustrated by the lack of clarity around St George Illawarra's desire to replace suspended forward Jack de Belin.
De Belin has been stood down indefinitely by the NRL under their new "no-fault" stand down policy after he was charged with the aggravated sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman in Wollongong in December. He has pleaded not guilty.
De Belin will not be able to play until April 16 at the earliest, when he will learn if the NRL's new hard-line policy on player behaviour withstands legal scrutiny in the Federal Court.
The Dragons were also without Tyson Frizell in their loss to South Sydney at Kogarah on Thursday night, with the representative forward unavailable for at least another fortnight after suffering a ruptured testicle in the opening round defeat to North Queensland.
St George Illawarra have also been missing Leeson Ah Mau who joined the Warriors in the off-season. His replacement, new signing Korbin Sims, is yet to feature in the red V after serving a two-match suspension.
So with the Dragons essentially down three forwards and with only 29 players on their 30-man roster - including de Belin - St George Illawarra lack depth in their forwards due to their absentees.
Dragons coach McGregor said he was frustrated with the NRL in the club's attempts to replace de Belin and was not sure what the hold up was from the NRL's end. The governing body can offer salary cap relief to clubs who apply should one of their players be stood down under the new 'no-fault' policy.
McGregor indicated the Dragons were yet to identify any suitable players to replace de Belin, with that responsibility falling to the club's director of rugby league pathways Ian Millward.
"That'll be up to Ian to see what's available once we find out what we can do. So first of all we've got to know the situation and have a good understanding of it. And then Ian will go to work," McGregor said.
"I sort of don't get involved. Because obviously I put my time into coaching and Ian manages the salary cap and stuff. We're talking about it so [the media] obviously feel the same.
"We've got a position open in our squad. We've only got 29 [players] including Jack.
"We're down two Origin players and we lost Leeson and replaced him with Korbin. He hasn't played yet either so we're really down three quality forwards... so we can work our way out of it, there's no doubt about that.
"Because we've shown enough in the first two games against two good teams. We just haven't done it for long enough. And that's the most important thing."
McGregor also rejected speculation that the club should cut ties with Gareth Widdop immediately, with the Dragons captain to leave St George Illawarra at the end of the season to play in the UK Super League.
The Dragons face tricky away trips to Brisbane and Newcastle in the next fortnight before they return to Kogarah to host Canterbury.
