Instead, yesterday’s 10-6 defeat in front of 42,269 people at Suncorp Stadium has thrown the Dragons’ premiership credentials further into doubt.

Their lack of potency in attack was a major factor in the Dragons’ late season collapse last year, and there is a sense of deja vu about the 2010 campaign.

The competition leaders had a number of opportunities to score points in the second half, but struggled to find their way over the line.

Playmaker Jamie Soward was in superb touch as the architect of the Dragons’ attack, but time and again they stopped short of scoring through mistakes, forward passes and a desperate Broncos defence.

Instead Greater Western Sydney AFL’s marquee signing Israel Folau landed the knockout blows, scoring two tries.

Dragons second-rower Ben Creagh spoiled a perfect opportunity to cancel out the Broncos first-half score when he promoted the football to score when brought down just short of the line.

Referred to the video referee, Creagh’s momentum would almost certainly have carried him over, but was denied the four points after reaching out.

From there, St George Illawarra were put under pressure, with only a diving Jason Nightingale putting a stop to an audacious in-field kick by Broncos winger Antonio Winterstein, with two Brisbane attackers waiting eagerly to gather and score inside.

The next time the Dragons charged towards the Broncos line came about after fullback Josh Hoffman lost the ball on a kick-return in a tackle by Dragons captain Ben Hornby.