Gareth Widdop walked off in agony again.
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Clutching the arm. Another shoulder injury.
The heir apparent, Corey Norman clinched it, 25-24, right at the death.
A wild rollercoaster, but the Dragons are up and running.
It had earlier appeared St George Illawarra had ignited their season, more with grit this time, than breathtaking force, as they did with their crushing 48-18 win over Brisbane in last year's elimination final.
But ahead by six in the final minutes, Widdop tried to dive on a dribbling ball kicked downfield, only for it to spill loose, instantly feeling the searing pain, as Brisbane scored through winger Jamayne Isaako.
Isaako soon after missed a field goal shot to seal it.
It all turned so quickly. The Dragons were suddenly reeling, at the prospect of playing much of the season without Widdop and with the scores now locked at 24-all.
Korbin Sims was blown away by brother Tariq and the Dragons while playing for Brisbane in last year's elimination final.
On Thursday night, he was crash tackled by Tariq in scenes of celebration at 24-18, scoring his first try for St George Illawarra on returning to Suncorp Stadium.
It in September when Widdop had gone off in an identical fashion, the Dragons succumbing to Souths in the semi-finals the next week.
Dragons coach Paul McGregor confirmed Gareth Widdop had dislocated his shoulder. "It's bad."
And like their win against Brisbane last year, Wayne Bennett's Broncos' swansong, it looked ominous early.
For the first 25 minutes it had been near-flawless for the Dragons.
Criticised for their spine selections and right-edge defence, their best response was attack.
And so it came in waves from the opening moments.
As Matt Dufty was dropped for Zac Lomax to provide cover in the outside backs, centre Euan Aitken cut the the Broncos open more than once.
Cameron McInnes produced a blinding dummy-half run to open the scoring five minutes in, then winger Jordan Pereira doubled up on his own play-the-ball to dive over in the corner six minutes later.
Then it started to unravel.
A loose carry from rookie winger Mikaele Ravalawa - initially ruled a no-try for a double knock-on - was awarded after Corey Oates picked it up and scored.
Widdop, who had started at fullback then swapped with Norman to move into the halves, misfired a kick and James Roberts, Jimmy the Jet, raced 90 metres to score and the Broncos led 12-10 at the break.
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