That's the state of play though after Paul Green became coach No. 3 this week. He follows Stephen Kearney and Dean Pay out the back door of the 2020 season, though his exit from the Cowboys had a fair bit more dignity about for club and man.

He needn't worry either, as this column touched on last week, he can just jump back on the carousel and see where he lands.

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With him gone the axe now looms closest for Broncos coach Anthony Seibold after he was given the dreaded ultimatum - supposedly five wins from the remaining 10 games.

Even if he meets that figure, it won't get the Broncos to the finals. What did cross our mind when we heard about that figure was how it relates to the Dragons.

Five of 10 seems a pretty modest goal but, quite remarkably given where the Dragons looked to be at six weeks ago, it's only slightly shy of what might get them to the finals.

It's not a discussion McGregor's interested in having just yet, nor are his players. If anything they're channeling George Costanza and are "basking in the buffer zone."

Expectations were so low after that now infamous 22-2 loss to the Bulldogs in round four people simply put a line through them. That, and the board backing McGregor, has let them go steadily about rebuilding to where they currently sit, just a win outside the top eight.

They very much got out of jail against the Bulldogs on the weekend but it was a win, and one they needed. There were lapses in the game but producing three tries in the final 15 minutes to eek out a win was beyond them against any opposition not that long ago.

In a lot of ways it was probably an example of "falling forward" as McGregor put it following his side's round eight loss to the Raiders. It acknowledges that slip ups and falls will occur, the art is not falling backwards.

It's probably what they've managed to do in their past six games Since that game in round four, the Dragons have produced just one awful 40 minutes, the first half in that loss to the Raiders.

So how close are they really? It's a puncher's chance at best, but a finals run is possible if you look at the draw they have laid out before them.

What critically-acclaimed rule changes have done this season is expose the gap between the best sides and the rest. It's a vast chasm with little in between.

What it means is a side could easily finish in the top eight without knocking off one of the big guns. As long as they beat the others in economy class they can get to the 10 wins required to make the finals (though they'll probably need 11 to guarantee it).

They've got the Sharks this week where they're only slight outsiders but, assuming all the favourites get up this week, they won't be in the eight. Even if they knock off the Sharks they'd need to win by 40-odd to leapfrog them on the ladder given for and against.

The Rabbitohs and Tigers our outsiders in their clashes, while the McGregor should be cheering the Cowboys on against the Sea Eagles.

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Should it play out that way, there will be five teams on five wins. The Dragons play one of those sides next week in the Rabbitohs. They then have the Roosters and Eels in consecutive weeks.

Beyond that they have the battling Broncos, Titans and Cowboys. If they can beat the Sharks and Rabbitohs in the next fortnight - and it's a big if - and win the three on the other side of the Roosters-Eels fortnight they'll be on nine wins.

That's where it gets even trickier with matches against the Raiders, Knights and Storm to finish; the trip to Newcastle the only one of them away. They'd need to win two of those three.

The task could be even stiffer should they drop those other games in the interim, but that's the task they set themselves with the earlier losses.

Should they not get there - and the odds on that are still short - they'll be ruing the games they dropped on an 0-4 start. Still, while the Sea Eagles have a softer run home, the others are all looking at fairly comparable draws.

The Dragons simply can't afford another stumble, but it would be ironic wouldn't it, the team perennially dubbed 'the May premiers' making a late run to the finals?

Maybe, but it all becomes a moot point if they can't string these next two together. It really is make or break time.