diff --git a/doc/changelog.md b/doc/changelog.md
index cc23b703d9..6efeedfaf3 100644
--- a/doc/changelog.md
+++ b/doc/changelog.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ To be released at some future point in time
 
 Description
 
+- Fix internal host name representation for Dragon backend
 - Make dependencies more discoverable in setup.py
 - Add hardware pinning capability when using dragon
 - Pin NumPy version to 1.x
diff --git a/smartsim/_core/launcher/dragon/dragonBackend.py b/smartsim/_core/launcher/dragon/dragonBackend.py
index e98eb0a304..4aba60d558 100644
--- a/smartsim/_core/launcher/dragon/dragonBackend.py
+++ b/smartsim/_core/launcher/dragon/dragonBackend.py
@@ -210,10 +210,10 @@ def group_infos(self) -> dict[str, ProcessGroupInfo]:
 
     def _initialize_hosts(self) -> None:
         with self._queue_lock:
-            self._hosts: t.List[str] = sorted(
-                node for node in dragon_machine.System().nodes
-            )
-            self._nodes = [dragon_machine.Node(node) for node in self._hosts]
+            self._nodes = [
+                dragon_machine.Node(node) for node in dragon_machine.System().nodes
+            ]
+            self._hosts: t.List[str] = sorted(node.hostname for node in self._nodes)
             self._cpus = [node.num_cpus for node in self._nodes]
             self._gpus = [node.num_gpus for node in self._nodes]
 
@@ -452,7 +452,11 @@ def create_run_policy(
                 if run_request.policy.gpu_affinity:
                     affinity = dragon_policy.Policy.Affinity.SPECIFIC
                     gpu_affinity = run_request.policy.gpu_affinity
-
+            logger.debug(
+                f"Affinity strategy: {affinity}, "
+                f"CPU affinity mask: {cpu_affinity}, "
+                f"GPU affinity mask: {gpu_affinity}"
+            )
             if affinity != dragon_policy.Policy.Affinity.DEFAULT:
                 return dragon_policy.Policy(
                     placement=dragon_policy.Policy.Placement.HOST_NAME,