St George Illawarra cult figure Mark Riddell denied off-field behaviour was responsible for his sacking from the Dragons' starting side.

Dragons coach Nathan Brown dumped hooker and goal-kicker Riddell to the bench and handed his spot to rookie Dean Young, the son of club legend Craig Young, for Friday night's clash with Newcastle at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

Riddell's demotion comes in the wake of a Sunday newspaper gossip column alleging he had been behaving badly in several Sydney pubs and recently turned up to training in clothes he had been wearing out the night before.

Riddell told AAP the allegations were false.

"I don't know where they're getting all that from," he said.

"They've (Dragons coaching staff) just said to me I'm down a couple of notches and they know I can play.

"I'll come on after 15 and 20 minutes and do what I can do so we'll see how it goes Friday night.

"I haven't been playing the best over the last few weeks.

"Hopefully I'll come on and get back to the way I was playing at the start of the year."

Former Dragons hooker Brown would not comment on the reasons behind Riddell's axing.

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