St George Illawarra name their squad for 2019 Charity Shield

Tyson Frizell and James Graham will play their first match for 2019 at Mudgee, with Jack de Belin not to make an appearance in the 'interest of player welfare' according to a release from the Dragons.

De Belin will be a notable absentee as he awaits a decision on his playing future at an ARLC board meeting on Thursday.

The 27-year-old is due to return to Wollongong court on April 17, where he pleaded not guilty to the aggravated sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman.

Meanwhile, the following will play in Mudgee on March 2:

• Euan Aitken
  
• Matt Dufty
  
• Jai Field
  
• Tyson Frizell
  
• James Graham
  
• Jacob Host
  
• Ben Hunt
  
• Josh Kerr
  
• Tim Lafai
  
• Jeremy Latimore
  
• Blake Lawrie
  
• Luciano Leilua
  
• Zac Lomax
  
• Cameron McInnes
  
• Corey Norman
  
• Jordan Pereira
  
• Mikaele Ravalawa
  
• Reece Robson
  
• Korbin Sims
  
• Tariq Sims
  
• Lachlan Timm
  
• Paul Vaughan
  
• Gareth Widdop

Dragons coach Paul McGregor says the Charity Shield clash has resemblance to an NRL round scene, ultimately a beneficial start to the season for his squad.

"The Charity Shield is always a good contest with the atmosphere and intensity to rival an NRL game. We'll be running out a side this week that will be as close as possible to what we're  looking at for Round 1 (against the Cowboys)," McGregor said.

Hoping to up the ante against the Rabbitohs, McGregor says his plan is to give each player enough minutes to prepare them for their Round 1 match against the North Queensland Cowboys.

The most important thing for me is to give the necessary players an appropriate amount of minutes under duress so that they're ready for Round 1, rather than begin that process once the competition begins.

Paul McGregor

"The plan is to be better than what we were [last weekend]. At times we demonstrated the changes we made in our pre-season, and we now have to lengthen the time to play better for longer. There were times where we needed to be more physical with our defence and speed up our attack."

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The crowd on the night is expected to see some of the best rugby league around while in the ultimate setting.

"Mudgee is a great town where we have had two great experiences over the past year. We are really looking forward to getting back out there and connect with each other and the community," McGregor said.

They love their rugby league in the Central West and this is a great chance for those living in the region to see first-hand a great match and some of the best players in the game.

The Rabbitohs will enter the clash with the Charity Shield in hand following their 22-18 win last year.

Gates will open at 5pm, with the Indigenous NSW 16s verse Indigenous Qld 16s at 5:30pm.

NRL kick-off is 7:30pm.

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