THEY’RE top four push is back on track but Dragons coach Paul McGregor believes it was never off the rails despite some hiccups through the rep season.
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The Dragons briefly reclaimed the competition lead with their 24-10 win over the Cowboys on Saturday night, halting a run of two straight losses, but haven’t managed a win over a top eight side since round nine.
Wins in the rep period have come against the bottom four sides before dropping two on the bounce to the Storm and Tigers.
It saw whispers that their top four bubble was ripe to burst grow louder, but McGregor says he never had cause to panic.
“I don’t know if it was a bump [in the road], we lost a game against Melbourne where we were in the game for 65 minutes,” McGregor said.
“We fell away at the back end but there were a few things that happened in that game where you’d like your time over [again].
“We had our whole back row out and then we lost a back-rower in the first four minutes. That threw out interchange out and we had Jase [Nightingale] who’s normally a winger playing on the edge.
“We lost a game last week that we would have liked to win against a Tigers side that came out the following week and beat Souths.
“Certainly our character gets tested each time we lose a game of footy and we’ve got an opportunity each week, as a group of men, to go out there and protect that character.
“We did that [on Saturday]. For us to come up and get a result was very pleasing.”
They’re likely to face a much sterner character test over the next fortnight when they take on the Roosters and Warriors while they’ll also face the resurgent Tigers again in round 23 at WIN Stadium.
It’s a month that shapes as make of break for their top four hopes and, having navigated the rep period, McGregor believes the trip to Townsville was a good chance to hit the reboot button.
‘‘It’s been really good to get away as a group,’’ McGregor said.
‘‘We’ve done some revision and ownership of the game against the Tigers for the first time since round 11 and that helps your footy team.
“We’re a team where preparation and practice is everything for us. We’ve got new players in important positions.
“Young Dufts (Matthew Dufty) is in his second year, we’ve got a new halfback (Ben Hunt) next to Gaz and James (Graham) is new so it’s some important people in our side.
“The more work you to together the better you become and we’re a team that, when we prepare well, we play well.”
While they re-found their attacking groove against the Cowboys, McGregor was most pleased with his side’s return to its defensive principles having conceded 72 points in the previous two outings.
“Defensively, the work they did was outstanding,” McGregor said.
“Even though we gave away a few metres, the missed-tackle count was very low. They only let the one try in, even though that was a little bit unforgivable on our try line, but other than that our scramble was good.
“The Cowboys through a lot at us, they probably shifted the ball a lot more than they do normally but the boys kept turning up. They worked very hard for the win and got the result.”