RUGBY LEAGUE
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The Dragons are now left to hope their awkward draw this season does not deny them a place in the top eight.
The way it's looking at the moment, the Sharks and Dragons might be battling for eighth place.
The Sharks have come from the clouds and find themselves sitting fifth with just five weeks until finals.
They face the Cowboys, Storm, Tigers, Eels and Sea Eagles in the run home.
The Red V - currently seventh - will go up against the Warriors, Broncos, Panthers, Titans and Tigers.
Cronulla are four points ahead of the Dragons, and both clubs have a similar run into the finals.
But St George Illawarra would be fuming about the draw handed to them by the NRL.
Since the governing body took charge of the club's operations, the Dragons have been lumped with some pretty harsh fixtures.
A heap of Monday night games earlier this year, plus this week's trip to New Zealand followed directly by a Brisbane flight.
Then to top it off, one of the four "home" games to be played at WIN Stadium is placed on a Thursday night.
Still, there's nothing they can do about the draw now.
The equation is a minimum of three wins from the remaining five games for the Dragons to qualify for the finals.
It's hard to tell if last week's big win over Newcastle was a return to form for the Red V or not.
They did look good in patches, but the Knights have also been very disappointing this season.
And the Dragons let in 20 unanswered points in the first half, which they can't afford to do if they come up against a top-eight side.
Even if they fail to play finals this year, the Dragons are looking fairly impressive for 2016 already.
Peter Mulholland has made some smart recruiting moves over the past few months.
Russell Packer and Mose Masoe will add some real punch to the front row.
People are saying these new interchange laws will take the big boppers out of the game, but I think it could have the opposite effect.
Big front-rowers will just become more valuable to clubs.
I know they will lose Trent Merrin, but for the money they would have had to pay him, they should be able to buy a couple of quality forwards to bolster the pack.
They've still got a shot at this year's play-offs, but no-one will be writing off Paul McGregor's men ahead of the 2016 season.
Thurston a freak
Johnathan Thurston may as well waltz into NRL HQ and collect his fourth Dally M medal now.
I know I say it every week, but that guy is a freak.
The pass he pulled off to set hooker Jake Granville up for that try last weekend was nothing short of sensational.
It would be a fluke if he didn't do that sort of thing every week.
He may be the greatest player the game has ever seen.
There was a lot of talk about Benji Marshall polling well in the Dally M counting earlier in the season, but I'd say Thurston would be a short-priced favourite.
He is the reason North Queensland win games.
But this year he has a decent spine around him to make the Cowboys a genuine premiership threat.
Granville, Michael Morgan, Lachlan Coote, combined with big guys Matt Scott and James Tamou, and it's a pretty formidable outfit.
I've learned not to get too excited about the Cowboys over the years, but I can really see them making a grand final appearance this season.
But if it's against Brisbane, the NRL will be left a little red-faced.
Two Queensland teams playing a grand final in Sydney?
Fans north of the border would be up in arms.