A month ago, the St George Illawarra Dragons were ecstatic just to get a win, no matter how it came about.
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On Saturday, that excitement was replaced by a fair bit of disappointment, the side fully aware they dodged a bullet in defeating the Bulldogs at WIN Stadium.
After leading 10-0 after just seven minutes, the Dragons trailed 20-10 at halftime on the back of a poor period of play.
The hosts ultimately fought their way back into the game, outmuscling the Bulldogs before running over the top of their opponents with three tries in the final 15 minutes.
The third came in the final minute, Corey Norman pouncing on a Marcelo Montoya knock on to race away for the match-winning try, St George Illawarra winning 28-22.
While pleased to break the deadlock, Norman was disappointed with the performance his side turned out in their return to WIN Stadium.
"It was pretty lucky there, I got the bounce I needed," Norman said. "It was good to finish the game like that, but it was pretty disappointing that we had to finish it that way as well.
"We let them score 20 points after we got away to a good start. That's just disappointing. It's pretty shit from us, some soft tries too.
"It just goes to show we've got a bit of work to do still. We've got a couple of wins now and we've got the Sharks next week, that'll be tough. We need to keep building on this week and leave them lapses out."
While it was Norman who delivered the match-winning play, it was his halves partner Adam Clune who played a key role in St George Illawarra's second-half turnaround.
The rookie halfback helped steer the team's attack and produced a number of superb kicks, with coach Paul McGregor describing the second 40 Clune's best since he came into the side in round four.
Norman has been one of the big beneficiaries of the 25-year-old's growth, the halfback taking pressure off his five-eighth and allowing Norman to play his natural game.
"Clune's a quality player, he's very skilful and he's getting better every game. The best of him's yet to come.
"We're building combinations, me, Benny Hunt, Clune, Dufty, each week we're building combinations and getter better.
"We've still got a lot to work on, but that's the most pleasing thing, we've got a lot to work on and we're stringing some games together."
With the two points secured, the Dragons have now turned their focus to making it three on the trot when they face the Sharks next weekend.
The side enters the match in totally different shape to their earlier clash, that game coming on the back of the round four loss to the Bulldogs.
Norman identified the round five win over Cronulla as a turning point in his team's season, however he knows the Dragons will have to improve on Saturday's performance if they are to defeat their local rivals.
"We've been building every week, even against the Roosters and Raiders, we still went in the right direction even though we lost. The Raiders we could've been a lot better, but we still moved forward.
"We have no doubt the Sharks will be ready to play after last time. It'll be a tough one, we've got to be better than we were today if we are to get the win."
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