The Dragons will head into Wednesday’s Anzac Day match with Roosters riding a 6-1 start to the season – a ledger identical to the one they took into the traditional fixture last season.

Skipper Gareth Widdop suffered a medial ligament injury in a 13-12 loss that was sealed by a Mitchell Pearce field goal in the dying moments.

It proved the beginning of a downward spiral, with the Dragons winning six of their remaining 16 games to slide out of finals contention.

A loss on Wednesday would bring a sense of deja vu, but de Belin believes his current side is far better equipped to ride the ups and downs of a full NRL season.

“Last year the wheels did fall off a little bit there,” de Belin said.

“After we had our good little streak we went win-loss-win-loss and had more losses than wins but there is a different feeling around at the moment. 

“You can’t really pin it to one thing but I think we’ve been putting the team ahead of ourselves which is helping us get the wins.

“We’ve got a few older heads and a few players that have been in the situation before and that obviously goes a long way.

“We’ve got to learn from our mistakes and obviously 2017 was a mistake of a year, if you want to put it that way, but hopefully we’re better for it.”

New Zealand brought the Dragons undefeated start to the season to an end last week while the Roosters took their ledger to 4-3 with a 6-0 win over the Bulldogs.

The tricolours have been very much hit and miss but de Belin believes they’re not far off finding top gear.

“You’re never far away from clicking when you’ve got the calibre of players they do,” de Belin said.

“When you look across the park they’ve got some fantastic players and they’ve recruited pretty well. It’s only a matter of time until they start clicking.

“I think come finals time they’ll be one of the real forces there but, right now, hopefully we’ve got them at a good time. 

“They’re obviously a little bit hot and cold at the moment but hopefully we get the cold Roosters.”

The Dragons will be coming off a short turnaround but de Belin is confident the loss to the Warriors won’t stall their early-season momentum.

“It was a pretty tough game but credit to New Zealand, they were unreal,” de Belin said.

“We didn’t play poorly by any means when you look back it.

“We weren’t outstanding either, but think we would’ve beaten most sides so I think our momentum’s still pretty good.”