In the gloom, Jason Nightingale’s stunning flick pass for Tim Lafai to score shone like a beacon.
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There was a partial blackout at Kogarah on Thursday night, but dark shadows have been cast over the Dragons’ finals hopes all season.
The St George Illawarra attack has been so blunt, Nightingale’s magic moment sent fans into a social media frenzy, mainly at what they’ve been missing.
Putting it in context, the Dragons are tracking to be the worst attacking team since the 24-game format was introduced in 2002.
As a testament to their defence, they’re still effectively sixth on the ladder right now at 5-5, factoring in Parramatta’s farcical salary cap predicament.
And so, like the glory days when “Wayne’s Wall’’ held firm to take the Dragons to the 2010 title, they build their platform around stopping tries, not scoring them.
But the numbers just don’t add up.
If you take out the fortnight from hell where they lost 36-0 to the Cowboys and 26-0 to Brisbane, the Dragons’ defence holds.
In the other eight games they’ve conceded an average of 17 points per game.
It’s not quite the 12.46 per game they conceded during the home-and-away season on the way to the 2010 title, but it’s a solid base nonetheless.
The alarm bells really come when they have the footy.
The perception is the Dragons can still launch a September campaign, because of their defensive achievements in the past.
Even in a simplified form, the statistics paint a grim picture.
In the past decade – removing 2007 and 2009, tainted by Melbourne’s salary cap rorts – last year’s St George Illawarra team was the lowest scoring to play finals.
The Dragons made 435 points for the 2015 season, bowing out in an elimination final to Canterbury, in golden point.
It’s an average of a tick over 18 points each week.
This year, St George Illawarra have managed 105 points from 10 games.
String their attacking form out over the span of the season and it takes them to 252.
They’ve managed only 47 points per game in six efforts away from their many “home” grounds.
Even allowing them to release the handbrake in the remaining 14 games, they need to make up a 222-point shortfall to reach the average amount of points needed to make the eight since 2005.
And this is just to make the playoffs. The average points accumulated during the season – not including finals – by the premiership team since 2005 is 528.
It’s more than double the Dragons current standard.
Of course, changes in the way the game is played in recent times need to be taken into account, as rules have been tinkered with over the years.
But then, reducing the interchange to 10 this year was meant to open up games, with more fatigued players on the field. The State of Origin period may be beneficial for St George Illawarra, when you consider they meet North Queensland again at WIN Stadium without representative players.
However, Josh Dugan, the centrepiece to the Dragons attacking plans after being switched back to fullback by coach Paul McGregor after starting the year in the centres, will be missing.
Nightingale’s moment of brilliance – and Euan Aitken’s golden try intercept – only serves to mask the depth of their problems.