Mind you this is a group in which some players must put on their left sock before their right, wear the same pair of speedos they first pulled on over a decade, run last out of the tunnel and in extreme cases burn boots after a loss in purging ceremonies. But hoodoos? No way.

For years Dragons players deflected talk of their long-running Canberra hoodoo – 11 straight losses in the capital between 2001 and 2013 – as a statistical anomaly or a media concoction.

Veteran winger Jason Nightingale didn’t believe in hoodoos then, and he isn’t about to change his mind simply because the Dragons sit on the right side of an 11-game winning streak against the Warriors, ahead of their clash at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday.

Nightingale is the only surviving member of the last Dragons side to taste defeat in New Zealand, a 44-16 loss in 2007, and said the record will have no impact on Sunday’s result.

“I don’t think it means anything come Sunday’s game,” Nightingale said.

“I think those records just sort of happen and if you read about them enough you’ll think about it. It was pretty hard not to read about the Canberra one. 

“I can see why people are interested when those stats come up but neither team really buys too much into them. 

“On all those occasions we’ve had different coaches with different styles, different rosters with different styles so I don’t think it’s a style thing.

“If we go over there and win again it’ll be because we played better than them not because of a hoodoo.

“I can’t imagine there’s a hoodoo attached to it but I know I Iike playing over there and there’s quite a few of my teammates who do as well.”

It’s been a tumultuous week for both side’s heading into Sunday’s clash with Dragons coach Paul McGregor’s DUI charge and fallout from Roosters coach Trent Robinson’s infamous Anzac Day spray.

The Warriors were thumped 42-0 by Melbourne in their last start prompting coach Andrew McFadden to dump Internationals Manu Vatuvei, Ben Matulino, Bodene Thompson and Konrad Hurrell as well as young-guns Albert Vete and Sam Lisone.

The changes make the typically erratic Warriors even less predictable but Nightingale said the Dragons can only concern themselves with their own performance.

“You know on their day if they play well and you play poorly you’re going to get beaten,” Nightingale said.

“We just have to focus on putting our best game on the field because we’re confident if we do that that we can put it with any team in the comp. 

“We just haven’t managed to do that consistently this year and I think the Warriors are in the same boat.”