Dragons get their spark, says Benji

Playmaker Benji Marshall believes the Dragons' brave come-from-behind victory over Canberra could prove season-defining.

Staring down the barrel of three straight losses, the Dragons looked dead and buried when they trailed 18-0 after 20 minutes.

A second-half comeback also appeared dead in the water when Josh Dugan was sin-binned with his side trailing by eight in the 55th minute before late tries to Mitch Rein and Joel Thompson snatched a dramatic victory.

The win came amid an unprecedented storm of online criticism directed at club management.

While most of the fan vitriol has been directed at the board, the players and coach haven't escaped scrutiny after poor showings in the first two rounds.

Victory away from home will provide some breathing space ahead of their round-four match with the Sea Eagles in Wollongong on Saturday.

While admitting his side can't keep starting matches poorly, Marshall said the win had the potential to spark the Dragons' season.

"To be down 18-0 and have everything going against us, ourselves going against us ... to turn it around and come back and win that game, it's something you can build a season on," Marshall said.

"When we scored and were still down by four I said to the boys at halfway 'if we get out of this it'll be one of the gutsiest wins we've ever had as a club'."

Dugan said after the match that snatching the ball from Jarrod Croker as the Raiders captain attempted a quick 20-metre tap midway through the second half was a risk he had to take with the match on a knife's edge.

Ironically it proved the factor that kicked the Dragons into gear with Marshall pin-pointing the moment as the turning point.

"I reckon it lifted us," Marshall said. "Our line speed was better than it's ever been for that period and I thought our forwards really stood up and gave us a platform to work with.

"Confidence is a big thing and once we got a bit of confidence and bit of a roll on and believed in each other, we turned it around."

Running in four tries in 50 minutes will also ease the pressure on Marshall and halves partner Gareth Widdop, who have faced the most scrutiny after the Dragons posted just eight points in the first two rounds.

No stranger to the see-sawing nature of fan sentiment, Marshall said most of the pressure had come from within.

"As players we put as much heat on ourselves to perform and I think by our own standards the first two rounds were disappointing for us," he said.

"We always have a lot of expectation on each other to carry the team through and not scoring points falls back and reflects on us as halves.

"When you've got guys like Josh Dugan outside you, you really just need to get them some early football ... and that's what we tried to do."