As hard as it is to believe, the Dragons have the second-best defensive record in the NRL. Yep, despite only winning two of their last 11 games, the Dragons have still let in fewer points this season than everyone bar the Melbourne Storm.

My brother pointed this out to me and I just didn’t believe him. So I had to look at the league ladder to find out that he was absolutely correct.

The Storm are on 250 points conceded and we’re 307. The Eagles are two point out on 309 but after that there a big gap - the next closest is Brisbane on 352. Of the top eight teams the Cowboys are by far the worst, having let in 442 points so far this season.

These stats give me a bit of extra confidence that, while things aren’t going that great for us at the moment, we haven’t moved as far away from the pack as I’d thought.

Also, there are signs that out defence is improving after we held the Storm to just eight points - including a scoreless second half and an extended period right on our line.

This Sunday’s match against the Warriors is the big test. It’ll show us whether the team has truly turned that corner or is just experiencing another false dawn.

We had one of them a few weeks ago when we put in a strong performance against the red-hot Tigers only to hand in an appalling effort in the Roosters match a week later.

So the Dragons have done half the job - they’ve lifted against the league leaders. Now they have to keep lifting, rather than merely playing to the perceived level of their opponents.

They’ll have the advantage of a full-strength line-up with the return of Mark Gasnier and Brett Morris. Though I’m not sure how well new dad Morris will go - any guy who has welcomed a baby into the house knows how much of an upheaval it can be and how a decent night’s sleep can be hard to come by. And any guy can also tell you that no-one really pays much attention to how you’re coping with the bub in the house.