RUGBY LEAGUE
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Their season has reached a critical juncture but Dragons but coach Paul McGregor says the pressure of playing for their finals future isn't weighing too heavily before Sunday's must-win clash with Newcastle.
It is the club's worst slump as a joint venture after suffering their seventh straight defeat when they sunk to a 22-4 loss to Melbourne in New Zealand last week.
It leaves them in 10th spot on the ladder and needing to win at least four of their remaining six games to be a chance of scraping in to the finals.
With away trips to New Zealand and Brisbane over the next two rounds the Dragons simply cannot afford to drop Sunday's clash with the 14th-placed Knights at Jubilee Oval.
The run of losses has seen pressure mounting on the Dragons - who spent nine weeks of the season entrenched in the top four before their run of outs.
But McGregor said he is yet to see it take its toll on his players.
"If they are [feeling pressure] they're not showing it," McGregor said.
"You always want to win there's no doubt about that.
"Every time you cross that white line your first thought is about winning. It's is the pointy-end of the season and every time you lose you've got to win the next one.
"The expectation out there is that we need to win and we certainly know that but you can't worry about that. All you can worry about is what you can do to improve to help you win and that's what we're doing," McGregor said.
"There's certainly some things we need to be better at and when we accomplish that the win's not far away but you've got to keep things in perspective."
The Dragons built their early season run of nine wins from 12 games on the back of solid defence but have dealt with accusations of attacking impotence for most of the season.
They've conceded a combined 156 points over their seven losses with only 74 points in response.
They've also managed to score more than two tries just once. Peter Mata'utia's 77th-minute try last week was the only thing preventing a shut-out.
McGregor said post-match that his side lacked purpose in attack which they have looked to address this week.
"It's about building pressure," McGregor said.