Kangaroos star Josh Dugan is ready to “rip and tear” into the Dragons’ NRL pre-season training despite suffering a knee injury in the Four Nations final.

Dragons head of athletic performance Nathan Pickworth said Dugan had suffered a grade one ligament injury late in his two-try display in Australia’s 34-8 win over New Zealand.

But Pickworth said Dugan would hit the ground running when the NRL club returned from their Christmas-New Year break.

“His knee is looking pretty good,” he told Dragons TV.

“He did some cardio training while he was away (on end of year break).

“He rang me when he got back and was keen to know what he can and can’t do.

“It’s good to see Duges that way, ready to rip and tear into training.”

Meanwhile, Pickworth confirmed the man they had expected to step up in halfback Benji Marshall’s absence in 2017 – Drew Hutchison – had undergone a successful knee reconstruction before Christmas.

He is expected to be sidelined for at least six months.

The 21-year-old suffered the injury at training last week just before the club’s festive break.

“It went really well. It was a routine ACL reconstruction,” Pickworth said.

“He didn’t have much damage anywhere else on the joint – we will push on per plan.”

Pickworth said lock Jack de Belin had broken his wrist and undergone surgery to insert a pin.

“The good news is he doesn’t miss any game time so he will be right and ready to go for our trials,” he said.

And Dugan’s Kangaroos teammate Tyson Frizell has made a splash despite returning from the Four Nations campaign nursing an ongoing back complaint.

“He’s had some scans and there’s some stuff in there around his disc so we will have to manage it long term – but we already knew that,” Pickworth said.