RUGBY LEAGUE
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Milestone man Brett Morris credits a "lack of determination or commitment" as the answer for St George Illawarra's series of tight losses, which have included seven defeats by six points or less this season.
The second-from-bottom Dragons will slump to their worst ever losing streak in the joint venture's history with defeat against wooden spooners Parramatta on Monday night.
Included in the string of five defeats have been four-point heartbreakers against Canberra and Cronulla and a narrow two-point loss to Brisbane, before last week's thumping at the hands of the struggling Tigers.
"You almost find ways to lose games, especially when you've lost a couple in a row," Morris said. "You doubt yourself and that's probably what has been our biggest thing.
"When you're losing games you lose a fair bit of confidence and confidence is hard to get back once you lose it.
"We've been in a lot of games and through a lack of determination or commitment we've gone down. We've played our footy in patches throughout games and you would think we would learn from it, but this year we've had to blood a lot of young players.
"When they're playing week-in week-out footy they're not used to, it's a bit tough on them. That's only going to make them stronger for next year, but this year has been disappointing ... there's no hiding that."
St George Illawarra back-rower Bronson Harrison joined the chorus of Dragons players who absorbed blame for last week's defeat at the SCG.
He claimed the Eels would still be smarting from their 60-point annihilation at the hands of Melbourne.
"You probably set some standards of yourself and when you don't meet them it makes it that little bit extra frustrating," Harrison said.
"It seems to be the case whenever a scoreline like that goes against you the following week you usually turn it around with a good performance.
"We're going to look for a hard game and hopefully we'll bring it to them this week."
Morris will make his 150th appearance for the Dragons at Parramatta Stadium knowing he's just two tries shy from making it a double celebration with 100 career four-pointers.
Still harbouring ambitions to feature in the Australian squad at the end-of-year World Cup, the 13-Test flyer is desperate to shore up his spot with eye-catching displays in St George Illawarra's last two games.
"As a kid you could only dream of playing 150 games for the club you love," Morris said.
"Starting out in 2006 I wasn't looking that far ahead, but it's been a huge honour to represent this club.
"Hopefully we can go out there on Monday night and get a win, especially for the 150th so I can remember it."