Instability has been the only constant in Anthony Griffin's first season at the helm amid injuries and an unprecedented suspension toll.

Skipper Ben Hunt, star back Zac Lomax and now stand-in skipper Andrew McCullough have all spent time on sideline with injury, while the club's also dealt with more than 40 weeks' worth of suspensions.

Mikaele Ravalawa has worn the brunt with eight weeks on the sidelines over three seperate shoulder charge offences.

Tyrell Fuimaono has served seven weeks over two high tackle charges and a further week as a member of the 'dirty dozen' that attended a now infamous barbecue at the home of sacked prop Paul Vaughan.

Test prop Vaughan was slapped with an eight-week suspension from the NRL, with the club subsequently tearing up his contract.

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McGuire was rubbed out for five weeks over a 'hip-drop' tackle in round 10 and was one of 12 players to serve one week over the barbecue that's ultimately derailed the club's season.

The silver lining has come in the opportunity to give the likes of Talatau Amone, Jayden Sullivan, Tyrell Sloan and Mat Feagai NRL action, though it's come often out of position in understrength sides.

Sullivan did enough in a 65-minute stint in the unfamiliar role of dummy-half against the Roosters last week for Griffin to name him in the No. 9 for Saturday's clash with the Cowboys.

McGuire feels the club will see the benefits down the track.

"We've got some really good talented kids coming through," McGuire said.

"Playing in the NRL is valuable experience and then you put them at the end of the year when these are do or die games, that bit of added pressure only helps these kids.

"They're learning some hard lessons, but they're good to learn when you're younger and they'll be better for it. They're valuable lessons.

"Next year, when they do play, they can call upon those experiences again. They've got massive futures in the game so I'm excited to see those kids progress."

McGuire was a member of one of the most illustrious junior classes in recent memory having come through the Broncos system under Griffin alongside current teammates Hunt, McCullough, Corey Norman, Tariq Sims and Gerard Beale.

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It also included the likes of Alex Glenn, Matt Gillet, Josh Hoffman and Jharal Yow Yeh who all became Internationals after graduating to the NRL ranks.

While McGuire sees similarities with the current crop of young Steelers products, he feels they've been dealt a far tougher first-up hand.

"Our young guys are in a similar situation having come through and won a lot of the junior stuff," McGuire said.

"They have the camaraderie and they're a really tight-knit group. That's very similar, but she's a different world when you come into first grade.

"I was lucky enough when myself Macca and the rest of us came through at the Broncos they had Darren Lockyer, Sam Thaiday, Corey Parker, Tonie Carroll... all these pretty established football players.

"Our guys have probably been chucked in the deep end a bit earlier than Hook wanted to chuck them in but I know he's super excited [by them].

"She's a long road, a patient road, but you get those rewards at the end because hopefully those guys are 200-300-game first-graders playing that Dragons in 15 years time and you'll appreciate what the club's done nurturing them through.

"There's a massive talent pool on the South Coast that Hook and the club are really tapping into."

The future may be bright, but the present is dire, with the Dragons on a six-game losing streak ahead of Saturday's clash against North Queensland.

The Cowboys are riding an even longer nine-game run of outs, with the Dragons needing a win to keep their faint finals hopes alive.

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Sullivan was named at hooker on Tuesday, with on-loan recruit Freddy Lussick named on the bench.

Sloan will also return at fullback in place of Matt Dufty, while Blake Lawrie makes a surprise return after breaking his hand in a loss to Penrith a fortnight ago.

It follows another disappointing 40-22 defeat at the hands of the Roosters, a game the Dragons led at the 54^th minute mark only to fade badly over the distance.

"We'll take some good things out of it but we're just not learning our lessons at the moment," McGuire said.

"We put ourselves in a position to win that game after being [14-0] down. We just keep capitulating at the end of games and giving away soft tries when we've worked hard to get back into the game.

"We do enough to win football games we just [do more] to lose them at the moment. We give up some soft tries or show no resilience in key moments there.

"We just need to be better. We can still control our own destiny, we just need to win football games. We've got two games to win and then the rest of it is out of our control.

"We can control this weekend and that's what we need to be doing."

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