Five things we learned from the Dragons win over the Cowboys

Some things never change for Andrew McCullough and Ben Hunt.

The club's pursuit of McCullough raised eyebrows - still does given it seems to have cost the club Cam McInnes - but we got a good insight into why Anthony Griffin went so hard after his former NYC protege.

The best period of both their careers unquestionably came playing alongside each other and, whatever McCullough does, Hunt has played straighter and at the line in two games so far.

Hunt was rightly lauded for his outstanding game, but McCullough's poise at dummy-half and extra kicking option played no small part in that.

"I always knew why Hook brought him the club," Hunt told Fox Sports post-game.

"He's got a lot of faith in Maccca and I do as well. He just knows the ins and outs of a footy game.

"He's smart, he knows when to give the ball, he knows when to take the big boys on. He's a classy player so it's good to have him here."

Corey Norman was as good without the ball as he was with it.

Norman is not a noted defender but, as it is for any player, effort without the footy is a fair indication of how keyed into the contest he is.

Norman ran the ball seven times but he made 21 tackles - including a try-saver on Mitch Dunn with his side trailing 6-0 early. He missed just one.

"There were times he looked absolutely spent and it's only in seeing it that you realise how rare that's been. He had some good touches in attack, but it flowed from defensive effort.

It was something Griffin was quick to point out afterwards.

"I thought [Hunt] and Norman had some really big plays in them tonight, both sides of the ball," Griffin said.

"I thought they were both great defensively. You want them in tight games to get you over the line, I though their kicking game was great. Corey, for his first hit-out, was really good.

"They had some nice touches together, we've just got to get more football and more combination out of them. We got terribly fatigued at the back end there, there were a few of them that had cramp and couldn't pick their legs up.

"For most of the night, their intent to win field position, to kick early and chase and force errors out of the opposition down the other end of the field was really good.

"Having that left foot-right foot combination just helps you do that. it gives you both sides of the field to kick to."

It was a win, but the Dragons ball handling left a lot to be desired.

It was an entertaining contest, but it won't do much to change the opinions of those tipping both sides to finish in the bottom four.

After making 13 errors agains Cronulla last week, the Dragons made 12 against the Cowboys and completed just 29 of 41 sets.

Read more: Hunt returns to his best in win over Cowboys

They were let off the hook by the fact the Cowboys made 13, but any decent side will punish them big if they don't tidy it up.

They had the wet as an excuse last week, but some of the fumbles two of the fumbles, from Paul Vaughan and Blake Lawrie, came in the first two sets.

Those types of errors, including another cold spill from Jack Bird, are concentration errors and Griffin wasn't letting the victory gloss over it.

"We weren't good with the ball, we nearly beat ourselves again," Griffin said.

"In our own end we killed ourselves straight away again in the first set. It was just a lack of execution and then after points we turned it over a couple of times.

"We made life tough for ourselves and we shouldn't have leaked 18 points. They're things we'll get better [at] but we're just making hard for ourselves at the moment.

"We were just 70 per cent [completions] again with the ball. I'm so proud of them for the way they worked but we've got to fix up that control of the football."

The Dragons have done some work on their defence since the Charity Shield.

You have to take into account the opposition, but the Dragons have clearly made defensive structures a priority.

They were torn apart on the edges by the Rabbitohs but conceded just one line-break against the Cowboys on Saturday. They gave up just two against Cronulla.

Kick reception is obviously an issue and Griffin also lamented the 18 points conceded on Saturday as "the softest points you've ever seen."

Still, structurally, they've looked a lot better.

"We only let in one line-break for the game and that was Granville out of dummy-half," Griffin said.

"Everything else is what you want to see, we scrambled well, we controlled the ruck at periods where we had to. Defensively it was pretty neat for long periods but [then] we knock off on last play or let a dummy-half jump over. We've got to clean that up.

"We leaked soft points but, in that last 15 minutes to be able to defend our line for 33 plays, it was the difference.

"I thought our defence took another step again tonight. A few weeks ago we got it terribly wrong at Mudgee but we've been gradually getting better and I thought we were pretty good tonight on their key players for most periods."

There is no better sight in rugby league that Daniel Alvaro in the clear.

Not since Robbie Beckett was flying up and down Penrith Park sidelines has a player looked so good with their knees so high.

He's more adept at the rough stuff, but let's hope it's not the last we see of 'Chugger' in the open field this season.