HAS the Dragons 2017 bubble burst? It’s a question plenty are asking given the wobbles the early-season tearaways have hit through the mid-part of the season.
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They’re certainly in a slump. A 22-point comeback in the second half against Newcastle last week shouldn’t be used to paper over that fact.
They did well to regroup and get the win over the Knights, but it came with the help of a capitulation from a side who’s only real goal this season is to avoid a third straight wooden spoon.
Knights coach Nathan Brown frankly admitted his side froze having never been up by that much. Prior to that second 40 minutes, the Dragons had been out-scored 68-22 over five halves of football.
They’re the cold hard facts but, as if most often the case in rugby league, things are rarely as good, and almost never as bad as they seem.
With the obvious year-in year-out exception of the Melbourne Storm, it’s almost universally acknowledged that teams, particularly those who shoot out of the blocks, will hit a plateau..
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan voiced as much in the wake of his side’s 32-18 loss to a then 11th-placed Dragons in round 23 last year.
“It is not panic stations,’’ Flanagan said.
“Some things just aren't working for us like they were earlier in the year but we'll keep working hard. Good teams sometimes fall out of form but they find it again.”
We know how that ended.
It would be the height of optimism to suggest the Dragons are on that trajectory, but a place in the finals is there’s to lose, while they are near enough to a top four berth if good enough.
At the moment they have the look of a boxer ahead on points, but put on their backside by a big punch. The win is still there for the taking, if they can just ride out the next few rounds and get their legs back under them.
In their recent performances, they’ve looked a tired side, but not one entirely bereft of ideas as they were last season. They’re not looking for the formula, they have it and it’s a simple forward-driven power game.
Gareth Widdop was the form player in the competition on the back of it in the Dragons 7-2 start to the season before getting injured in a golden-point loss to the Roosters.
They’ve also been without Josh Dugan for five games this season. The loss of their two best attacking players would upset any side’s apple-cart.
They haven’t been the same side after their round 12 bye. In that time they’ve only managed wins over the two sides running last and second-last but, if they can beat the Titans on Friday, they’ll have gone 3-2 into their next bye in round 18.
It makes Friday’s clash on the Gold Coast a crucial one ahead of the chance to refresh and reboot their charge from in, or on the edge of, the top four.
Their run home is a favourable one. In their last eight games they play only two sides currently in the top eight – Manly in Wollongong in round 20 and Brisbane at Suncorp in round 24.
A top four finish is achievable from here… it’s just a matter of rolling with the punches.