Of the 2010 premiership-winning side, only Nathan Fien, Ben Hornby, Jason Nightingale, Dean Young, Michael Weyman and Matt Prior will be running out for the Dragons against the Gold Coast Titans on Friday night.

Dragons youngster Jack Bosden. Picture: ANDY ZAKELI

St George Illawarra are paying the price for a premiership.The Dragons meet the Gold Coast on Friday night without a cast of State of Origin and injured stars, but the situation runs deeper than the toll caused by representative football.When Wayne Bennett arrived in Wollongong three years ago, he put in place a blueprint reliant on senior players to break their premiership drought.Bennett's lack of faith in the under 20 competition being a reliable NRL breeding ground also resulted in a band of emerging stars being moved on for short-term gain.

Full coverage of the DragonsBeau Henry, Kane Linnett, Kalifa Fai Fai Loa, Joe Vickery and Michael Lett all joined other clubs in pursuit of an NRL future.It stripped the Dragons of depth and took away their safety net.St George Illawarra are missing Darius Boyd, Mark Gasnier, Jamie Soward, Beau Scott, Ben Creagh and Trent Merrin on Origin duty.With Brett Morris, Matt Cooper and Kyle Stanley among the key injuries, the champions are struggling to put a backline together, let alone extend their unbeaten streak to 11 NRL games.However, second-rower Jack Bosden claims the Dragons are refusing to lower their lofty expectations for the clash with the Titans."No, not really, everyone who trains in the squad knows their job," Bosden said."We're just going to go out there and play the same football, week in, week out."Gold Coast only have a few out, we've definitely got more out, but hopefully we can step up to the challenge and do a good job on the weekend."The Dragons' lack of backline depth forced them to sign winger Reece Simmonds, who has come out of retirement to train with the club four years after last playing in the NRL.Adamant the St George Illawarra structure that took them to a premiership and has seen them unbeaten in their last 10 NRL games is still there, Bosden says captain Ben Hornby and senior players Dean Young and Nathan Fien will lead the way."I can't really talk for the boys who have been in that situation, because I've only played two games of those last 10 weeks, but we've still got a lot of quality players in the team," Bosden said."Players like Ben Hornby, Dean Young and Nathan Fien, they're all really experienced players."It's just a good opportunity really, for people like me waiting to get a chance."Winger Peni Tagive, who played in cover for Morris and scored an outstanding try last Friday, said the squad could continue the unbeaten run."We pretty much just work for each other and try and put in 100 per cent and that's all we can do," he said."That's what the club is about, working for each other and that's what worked for us in the last couple of years."

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Dragons pay high price for success

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