When the Dragons commenced the 2018 season with eight wins from their opening nine games it was again built on the back of a punishing defensive structure.

So with St George Illawarra stumbling in recent weeks, it’s no surprise that the wobbles have come on the back of a decline in the team’s defence.

The side conceded 52 points in the loss to Melbourne a fortnight ago before allowing the Tigers to score 20 in Sunday’s defeat. 

The pair of losses marks the first time the side has lost back-to-back games this season and unsurprisingly led many to ask if the Dragons are on track for their annual late season collapse. 

But St George Illawarra players aren’t worried. 

“I think we’re looking alright to be honest,” forward Paul Vaughan said. “We did a lot of hard work earlier in the season to put ourselves in a good position. We’re still in the top four, so if we can just put a couple of games together leading into the finals, we’ll be sweet.  

“Defensively we have a goal each week that we don’t want to let teams score over 16 points. 

“Obviously the last two weeks the Storm and the Tigers have done that and they’ve won the game, so that’s just something we’ve got to get back doing at training.

“It’s a big attitude thing defence, so we’ll be focusing on that this weekend.”

The defensive slump comes as the Dragons have completed a brutal Origin period, with five players featuring throughout the series. 

With so many players missing games and training, a side that built it’s early season success on the back of meticulous preparation has come unstuck. 

Vaughan’s Origin teammate Tyson Frizell admits the team’s defence hasn’t been up to standard in recent weeks, but he’s confident with a full week of training under their belt, fans will see a much improved showing against the Cowboys on Saturday night. 

“That’s one of the areas where we’ve slackened off,” Frizell said. 

“We had a massive focus on the defensive side of things, we know we can attack with the players we do have.

“Teams at the end of the year who can defend really well and hold teams to a low amount of points are who’s usually there at the end of the year. For us going forward, our focus is definitely the defensive side.”

With the Origin stars returning to the fold, Vaughan feels they have a responsibility to lift the team as they make a run towards the finals. 

“It’s good at the Saints,” Vaughan said. “Because there are so many Origin players, it’s good we can come back and share our experience and become better players and lift the group collectively. 

“It’s good for the boys to see us coming back and playing club footy, because if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be playing Origin anyway.”

In the midst of some of the the best form of his career, Vaughan has added motivation throughout the final six weeks of the season, a possible Kangaroos selection. 

“To be named in the Australian merit team is pretty cool. If I got an opportunity to play one of those games for Australia, words couldn’t describe it.”