But coach Paul McGregor is adamant the Dragons are anything but a spent premiership force, after their flying start to the season.

And the door remains wide open to a top four finish, with five games against the bottom four teams in the next eight weeks.

Coach Paul McGregor said it was time for the players to believe they are contenders.

“We’ve got enough talent to go well,” he said.

“We’ve just got to be confident in how we go about it.

“They certainly don’t get ahead of themselves, certainly not.

“The opposite actually, they’ve just got to have a bit more belief there.”

The rollercoaster ride peaked before the Anzac Day loss to the Roosters, then nosedived after Josh Dugan fractured his cheekbone in the Anzac Test.

While Dugan has since recovered and is on the verge of making history on Wednesday night, when NSW attempt to wrap up the State of Origin series, Tyson Frizell remains in doubt to play against the Knights on Sunday.

Frizell will have a painkilling injection to play Origin II with rib cartilage damage.

They’ve won just two games in the past two months, but hope remains.

Taking on Newcastle on Sunday at Kogarah, the Dragons then face the Titans twice, the struggling Rabbitohs and the Knights again.

The Titans have lost their last four, while the Knights have won just two games.

Their biggest tests loom in a trip to Canberra two days after Origin game three and a date with Manly at WIN Stadium on July 23.

Just two points behind fourth-placed Brisbane and Manly, in fifth, the Wollongong clash looms as potentially defining for their top four hopes.

The Dragons next two months

R16: Sunday v Knights at Kogarah (2pm); R17: June 30 v Titans at Cbus Super Stadium; R18 bye; R19: July 14 v Raiders at GIO Stadium; R20: July 23 v Sea Eagles at WIN Stadium; R21: TBA v Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium; R22: TBA v Rabbitohs at SCG; R23: TBA v Titans at UOW Jubilee Oval