NRL: Anzac takes toll on squad

Dragons hooker Nathan Fien is a doubt for today. Photo / Getty Images

With 10 players involved in Friday night's representative fixtures, Dragons hooker Nathan Fien concedes he has no idea what the side will look like when they take on the Cowboys today.

Fien is one of several players in doubt for the match against one of his former clubs, with the dummy half having spent much of the week struggling with a hamstring injury before taking his place in the Kiwis side on Friday night.

His New Zealand team-mate Jason Nightingale would also be at long odds to back up after being concussed when flipped by Australian centre Jamal Idris in an incident which went unpunished by match reviewers.

Country Origin five-eighth Jamie Soward will also be a spectator after suffering groin and hamstring injuries, the heavy casualty toll forcing Dragons coach Wayne Bennett to dig deep into his reserves to come up with a side capable of toppling an impressive Cowboys side.

"We've got great depth there, so any injuries that we get over the weekend we'll be able to cover," said Fien. "We've got a lot of faith in our depth, we've had players who have been able to come in and do a role, we'll be depending on those guys because we're going to be missing a few later in the year with the State of Origin as well.

"We had 10 players involved [on Friday night]. All the other boys were back in Wollongong training hard. They're ready to take the field if required."

Soward's injury and the likely unavailability of Fien mean youngster Kyle Stanley will probably line up at five-eighth, having already been named at fullback to cover for the injured Darius Boyd.

Bronx Goodwin and Peni Tagive will be favoured to be called-up in the outside backs, while Mitch Rein will back-up hooker Dean Young if Fien is unable to go around again.

"It's not a bad one," Fien said of his hamstring injury. "I've never really had a hammy problem before. It's quite foreign to me and I'm really just trying to go with what medical staff are trying to say to me.

"I got through the majority of the game [on Friday], but I'm definitely not 100 per cent. We'll just have to weigh up where we go on Sunday."

Backrower Ben Creagh is likely to start, as is Cowboys skipper Johnathan Thurston.

- AAP