Cameron McInnes has already learned just about everything he needs to know in his short stint at St George Illawarra.

Except where not to put his head.

McInnes fronted the media in Wollongong this week with eight stitches still on his right cheekbone, courtesy of a knock he copped in the team’s round-two 34-16 loss to Parramatta.

Not that he’s concerned it will ruin his modelling career.

He reckons the fake teeth probably did that, after another incident while at South Sydney back in 2015.

The facial injuries are part of the reason he jokes he had to lock down his fiancee Rachel in quick fashion.

“The missus is sticking by me but … I made sure of that,” McInnnes laughed.

His Dragons teammates get in on the gag too.

The joke around the Dragons training base is that he’s got far from the strongest skin in the team but underneath the jokes there’s a deep recognition for the kind of determination and spirit he has brought to the team.

“He’s a tough player,” winger Jason Nightingale said.

“Every hooker in the game – a lot of them aren’t big in stature so they have to have that braveness to stick their head in situations where wingers wouldn’t.”

On another serious note McInnes is relishing the opportunity to play an open style of football under coach Paul McGregor and he also feels the pressure is now off him.

After being Issac Luke’s understudy and then fighting for positions with Damien Cook last year at Souths, McGregor has given McInnes the No.9 jersey on a full-time, 80-minute, basis.

A responsiblity McInnes insists is more his own development as a person.

“I’ve maybe learned some lessons from the past,” McInnes said.

“I’ve learned to relax more and just take your opportunities when they’re there on the field, and not try and force things.”

It’s working well for him.

The 23-year-old has already set up four tries and three linebreaks this season, acts he failed to do even once in his final two years at Souths,

“Mary has been great,” McInnes said.

“He’s got the gameplan and if we execute it those little opportunities come about.”

The Dragons are now three-and-one, sitting pretty at third on the ladder and McInnes’ service out of dummy-half has helped them put on 100 points in the opening four rounds, a mark which took 10 weeks to reach last season.

That attacking success has McInnes talking up the Dragons’ chances in 2017.

“We’re a finals team and that’s what we’re aiming for,” he said.

“Any team that doesn’t set out for the big day is kidding themselves but we’ve got a long way to go before that.”