Dragons halfback Benji Marshall says the video of his side's performance against Penrith on Thursday is headed straight to the cutting-room floor.

Marshall helped his side out of jail against an understrength Panthers outfit with a field goal 11 minutes from time before a solo try to Gareth Widdop sealed a uninspiring 19-12 win in one of the worst games of the season.

The Dragons completed 23 of 37 sets at just 62 per cent, gave away nine penalties and missed 17 tackles in a lacklustre display, while the the Panthers were unable to capitalise completing 23 of 38 sets at 61 per cent.

Paul McGregor offered a blunt "no" when asked if there were any positives his side could take out of the victory apart from the two points, and Marshall was also keen to put a line under the performance.

"We got the win, that's about it," Marshall said. "There were definitely moments of that game where we could have lost it and we still managed to hang on and win it through a few individual efforts. A lot of us were guilty of taking a few forced options instead of playing the safer play.

"When you've been under the pump and haven't scored a lot of points, you can fall into the trap of trying to score too much.

"Our kick-chase and grinding out those last few sets got us home in the end and that's a bit of a lesson."

It was a night to forget on the personal front for Marshall - who returned from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the Dragons last-start loss to the Broncos - with an attempted 40-20 and a cut-out pass both sailing into touch on the full.

A wayward pass also ended up in the hands of Panthers giant Lelani Latu but the 30-year-old veteran said he won't be dwelling on the performance.

"It's probably one I won't look at to be honest," Marshall said.

"We won't look back at that and say we played our best but the two points is all that matters.

"It was good to be back playing again and good to get win but we need to be better than that if we want to make the top eight.

"Personally, I need to be a lot better with our last-play options and building pressure.

"We just needed the win and we got it but we definitely need to be better.

"We've got a nine-day turnaround now so we've just got to put that one aside and focus on the Gold Coast because we need to win again."

The Dragons finished the match with Tyson Frizell (tripping), Euan Aitken (crusher tackle) and Jake Marketo all on report.

Frizell was hit with a grade-one tripping charge but won't miss a match with an early guilty plea. Marketo will miss the clash with the Titans after being hit with a grade-one dangerous throw charge for his tackle on Latu midway through the second half.