St George Illawarra prop Michael Weyman will miss up to six weeks in the NRL after scans showed he has a slight groin tear.

NSW representative Weyman will avoid surgery but miss 4-6 weeks of NRL action after suffering the injury during the first half of the Dragons' shock 16-10 loss to Cronulla on Monday night.

"We received the full medical report today from the scans that Michael had yesterday and he has sustained a slight groin tear that will require him to be sidelined for about six weeks," Dragons performance director Jeremy Hickmans said in a club statement.

Former Wests Tigers forward David Gower has been named to play just his second NRL game and his first for the Dragons when they take on the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday.

The premiers will also be without back-rower Beau Scott, who entered an early guilty plea to a dangerous contact charge and will miss one game.

They were already missing utility forward Dean Young with a knee problem.

The Dragons forwards' pummelling by the Sharks big men on Monday night has some questioning whether they have sufficient firepower up front to defend their premiership.

Wayne Bennett offloaded Jeremy Smith (Cronulla), Neville Costigan (Newcastle) and Jarrod Saffy (Melbourne Rebels) in the off-season.

The club is relying on the likes of Trent Merrin, Jon Green, Michael Greenfield and journeyman Adam Cuthbertson to fill the void this year.

Former Test forward Mark Geyer said the premiers could even struggle to make the top eight.

"I don't think they will now if Weyman's out for a long time," he said on his Austereo network radio program.

"He's had major operations in the off-season, he's their No.1 go-forward man, they've lost Jeremy Smith, Neville Costigan, Jarrod Saffy, now Michael Weyman.

"If Wayne Bennett is the supercoach that we all think he is and I know he is, this is the year he'll prove it because those four big honchos, the big boppers, this is going to be the hardest year for a premier to back it up.

"Their bench is really ordinary."

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