Shane Flanagan's side was more than in the contest at the mid-point of the first half, leading 18-4 having produced three tries in nine minutes and only been denied the opening four-pointer by a 50-50 forward pass call just minutes in.

It was arguably as good as they've looked in attack for more than a season, Hunt having a key hand in two of the three tries that gave his side a 14-point cushion at home.

Raymond Faitala-Mariner spilling a certain fourth try, and potential 20-point lead, in the 22^nd minute proved a turning point, with the Cowboys running in three tries before halftime.

The floodgates opened in the second stanza amid a number of further missed scoring opportunities from the Dragons, with Hunt saying his side needs to do a far better job of riding out tough patches in contests.

"We just talked about trying to do it one set at a time," he said post-match.

"You look behind the posts there and just try and narrow the focus into that first tackle, first set after you do the kick off. I guess, whatever anyone said, it didn't really matter. They were just marching down the field and scoring points.

"We just didn't show enough resilience. It's kind of shown in the past, we show glimpses where we can play some really good footy and then we switch off for five or 10 minutes, get a couple of quick tries on us and fall to pieces."

Flanagan didn't rule out making changes on the performance front, but said he'll welcome back some heavy hitters for Saturday's clash with Manly in Wollongong after admitting the Cowboys "blew our ruck apart" in the absence of key men.

"We were lacking a little bit of leg speed in the middle part of the field," Flanagan said.

"We thought we got blasted at the ruck to be honest. In the middle part of the field they were too quick for us, so we didn't do a good enough job there.

"We had Frankie Molo, Jacob Liddle, Hame Sele and Jaydn Su'A all out. That's four good forwards there where we lacked a little bit of leg speed.

"Jacob had an HIA and 11-day stand-down so he'll be right, Frankie had a week's suspension so he'll be right. Hame Sele, we like to think he'll be right.

"He's been out and hasn't played for us yet, so he'll give us some experience and some leg speed in the middle.

"Jaydn Su'A (quad) should be right as well, so that gives us four good forwards to come back, but that's not just going to solve the problem, we need to solve it as a group.

"I've got to trust this group to improve, and that's where I've got to do my job as well, to make them improve."