St George Illawarra captain Gareth Widdop says he will be taking ownership of the Dragons attack with Benji Marshall’s exit and a pre-season injury to young half Drew Hutchison. The Dragons also have to consider who to partner with Widdop in the pre-season with former Canberra playmaker Josh McCrone the frontrunner.

“We’ll be changing things up a little bit, with Benji leaving,” he said.

“I’ll certainly be taking charge more. Over the next few weeks we’ll be working on making sure we get it right before the season starts.

“It’s only the first day back on the paddock, but we’ll go through the way we want to play and our structures over the next few weeks and come up with a plan.”

Widdop said he was disappointed for Hutchison who was set to replace Marshall before injury struck.

“I’m a good mate of Drew’s, it’s very disappointing, the way he’s going to be out for most of the season now,” Widdop added.

“But it opens an opportunity and obviously we’ve got Josh McCrone, who played 150 first grade games and Jai Field and Shaun Nona.

“So we’ve got plenty of players for that position.”