Playmaker Jamie Soward has praised St George Illawarra's fighting spirit after they snatched victory against the Bulldogs in Saturday night's Mercury Challenge at WIN Stadium.
As the clock counted down to full-time, Canberra recruit Bronx Goodwin coolly converted a gutsy try from young winger Joe Vickery to seal a 16-14 victory.
The Dragons, using new and fringe players in the second half, clawed their way back from a 14-4 deficit with 17 minutes left.
Full coverage of the Dragons Boom Bulldogs centre Jamal Idris had threatened to tear the game open when he crossed for his second try after a barnstorming break from Queensland State of Origin prop Ben Hannant.
But St George Illawarra hit back when Dan Hunt offloaded for Jon Green to crash over the tryline, reducing the gap to four.
In a thrilling finale, the Dragons launched a bold attacking raid along the left edge before Vickery cut back inside two Dogs defenders and reached out to plant the ball down.
"I think it just sums up our whole squad," Soward said later.
"We don't like losing anything, whether it's a trial or not.
"They could have got away when Idris scored his second try, but the young blokes stuck at it.
"Bronx wanted to win, so he kicked at the end and Wayne just said it was good to get a win."
The late try was a stunning response from Vickery, who was monstered by Idris on the march to his first try in the 45th minute.
League fans in the Illawarra had waited 183 days since the last NRL clash in Wollongong and they had to be prepared to wait another 40 minutes for a try.
Both clubs featured full-strength line-ups in a first half notable only for rugged defence and a lack of cohesion in attack.
While the Dragons went to the break at nil-all, Soward insisted there were some promising signs.
"Last year everyone was writing about attack and how it wasn't going anywhere," he said.
"Our attack took a little while to get going (on Saturday night), but we showed some good signs.
"We don't want to show all our plays, we want to keep some ... for when we play the real stuff."
The Dogs and Dragons meet again in Wollongong in round two of the NRL on March 19.
Canterbury hooker Michael Ennis, taking over the goalkicking duties from retired pointscoring record holder Hazem El Masri, made a shaky start with the kicking tee.
He missed his first two efforts, before winger Steve Turner slotted the third while Ennis was off the field.
Dragons coach Wayne Bennett trialled a number of players in different positions, particularly in the second half, when both clubs chose to experiment.
Most notably, Matt Prior, who played second row last season, was named at prop for the first half, but ended up spending time on the wing after the break following a knee injury to Peni Tagive.
The battle to replace NSW State of Origin prop Justin Poore will continue to heat up in Saturday night's Charity Shield showdown at ANZ Stadium.
Young guns Kyle Stanley and Beau Henry also showed they were pressing for NRL selection.
"It's a good battle for forward spots with Poorey going," Soward said.
"And we've got some halves coming up for a spot on the bench, with Beau Henry - and I thought Kyle Stanley was outstanding. He definitely put his hand up for a bench spot."
DRAGONS 16 (M Lett, J Green, J Vickery tries; B Goodwin 2 goals) d BULLDOGS 14 (J Idris 2, H Nanai tries; S Turner goal) at WIN Stadium on Saturday night.
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