Their fate is still in their own hands but St George Illawarra will need to produce a dramatic form turnaround to make any finals appearance worthwhile after going down 28-26 Gold Coast on Sunday.

The Dragons surrendered a 20-12 half-time lead to go down to the 12th placed Titans with a late barge-over effort from departing forward Dave Taylor sealing the upset in the 77th minute.

It quashed any chance of the Dragons securing a home semi-final with Manly the only mathematical chance of un-seating them from eighth spot on the ladder in the final round.

Manly would need to reverse recent form and make up a 61-point difference in for and against against the Sharks at Remondis Stadium on Sunday to force the Dragons out of eighth spot should they suffer a heavy loss to the Tigers on Saturday.

Such a scenario would appear unlikely but a scratchy win over Penrith and loss to the Titans - both well out of finals contention - in their past two games do not bode well ahead of a potential finals appearance.

McGregor did not hide his disappointment in the performance post-match.

"A lot of things came really easy during the game early and we put some points on the board but, in all honesty, they had 20 offloads," he said.

"From a good defensive side, that's way too many," McGregor said.

"They had three tries from kicks and two from dive-overs.

"It's just not the standard that we set, so it's not good enough.

"It started that way and didn't get any better. Our goal-line 'D' was okay at times but when you look at the tries they scored it just wasn't good enough for a team that's played really well for a long period of time during the year."

The loss could even see them start underdogs against the Tigers - who are out of finals contention - at ANZ Stadium on Saturday after unwanted skipper Robbie Farah inspired his side to a 50-16 demolition of the Warriors on Sunday but McGregor said his side is capable of bouncing back. "They're all things that are easily fixed," McGregor said.

"It's not turning anything around, it's there, we've played won three of our last five games but today we just weren't on.

"The game's pretty simple if you want to do the right things in the right areas you're okay.

"We've come a long way in 12 months and to let it go now would be a huge disappointment.

"All we need is a week of concentration, working hard for each other and come game day we'll be okay."