PLENTY had put a line through St George Illawarra's finals hopes and they were reaching for the permanent marker on Sunday following a 32-10 defeat to the Titans.
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Still in the midst of a suspension drain that will extend for at least another fortnight, the Dragons trailed from the outset and never really looked in the match beyond the opening exchanges.
Anthony Griffin's side had just two looks at the Titans 20 in the first half, turning one into points, but it was a litany of errors at their own end that proved the story of the opening stanza.
They were fortunate that the Titans could turn a mountain of possession and field position into just two four-pointers, but the injection of Dave Fifita from the bench 16 minutes before the break proved match-turning.
The Titans franchise man scored a barnstorming try seven minutes before halftime, went desperately close to a second in the minutes after the resumption and then laid on Greg Marzhew's 44th minute try for a 20-6 lead.
It effectively put the game to bed, and perhaps with it the Dragons finals hopes given five members of a side comprehensively beaten by a team running 11th are still to serve a one-game suspension.
Remarkably, they are still clinging to the bottom rung of the top eight, but it is what's to come that has most willing to rule them out of the finals race.
With the first of two clashes against the Rabbitohs looming on the horizon, and the Panthers and Roosters also on their road home, they look to be running three wide without cover.
Just a cursory look back points to how uphill the task will be, with seven of their 10 losses coming against teams currently below them on the ladder - the Sharks and Tigers having knocked them off twice.
"Whatever team we put out there we can't be making excuses for," Griffin said post-match.
"We played some reasonable football in the first half and got ourselves into a position to start to control the game, but there were just too many errors in our own end. We just fed them too much football they got their tries in real soft ways.
"It is tough but NRL seasons are tough. Ours has been particularly tough with some of the things we've had to go through, but we've just got to be better than that.
"Last week we put ourselves in a position to beat Manly [and we didn't], and we had a chance to win that one today and we just weren't good enough.
"It's getting to the back end of the year now and we've got to start winning some football games."
Corey Norman can return next week - though that in itself may be to the chagrin of the club's fans - while the sworn statement holdouts Zac Lomax and Daniel Alvaro are also cleared to return.
It appears unlikely to lift the club out of its slump against the high-flying Rabbitohs, who will be coming off a seven-day run-up when they meet the Dragons next Sunday.
Both sides took at least some view to the future, Titans rookie Toby Sexton making his debut and Dragons livewire Jayden Sullivan as good as doing the same after his maiden NRL outing came in round 25 last season.
Sexton finished with a try and a perfect six from six off the tee, while Sullivan's opportunities were limited to a point that would make it harsh to deny him another chance next week.
"It's hard for him, he hasn't played any footy at all this year," Griffin said.
"He played none last year [before] the last game, and he's been injured most of [this] year, so it was a good opportunity to get him out there.
"He's played 80 minutes so he'll be better for it now. [Norman's] done his week now, I don't really want to talk about [next week's] team at the moment.
"We'll just clean this up, have a look at our injuries and get on to Souths next week."
Josh Kerr looked to have opened the scoring seven minutes in when he won the race to a perfectly-weighted grubber from Hunt, only to be pulled back for nudging Ash Taylor in the back on the in-goal scramble.
Sexton opened the scoring with a penalty goal from in front at the other end and extended his side's lead to eight when Jarrod Wallace picked up the scraps after Cody Ramsey fumbled a contested Taylor bomb near his own line.
The Dragons hit back quickly after a 70-metre dash from Dufty, Hunt running onto a neat Jack de Belin short ball to cross from close range and plant the ball under the black dot. Jack Bird made no mistake from in front to cut the margin back to two after 19 minutes.
Recalled winger Jordan Pereira made the last of several first-half errors for his side, his attempt to force an off-load deep in his own end costly when Fifita dragged defenders across the line to score in the corner.
Sexton converted from the sideline for a 14-6 lead six minutes before the break, but subsequently fired a pass into touch in the next set, giving the Dragons a golden opportunity to peg the margin back.
They couldn't do it, the dead-ball line beating Dufty to a kick from Feagai on a fast break on the stroke of halftime, leaving the margin at eight at the interval.
Dufty spilled the Titans first clearing kick of the second half cold, again gifting the hosts field position, with a desperate last-ditch effort from Bird denying Fifita his second try three minutes after the resumption.
The Titans controversially kept possession via a Dragons dropout, with Fifita again doing the damage in drawing three defenders and putting Marzhew over untouched in the corner.
Sexton nailed his second touchline conversion for a 20-6 lead, though Brian Kelly spilled the ball next set. It saw McCullough burrow his way over, but the veteran fumbled the footy trying to ground it.
It was as close as they got, with Tyrone Peachey spilling the opportunity to out the game to bed after a clean break in the next set.
Wallace managed that with his second try off an off-load from Jaimin Jollife in the 60th minute, with Sexton grabbing an easy try off a Dragons error to cap a stellar debut with 15 minutes left.
Pereira's 75th minute four-pointer was mere consolation in a demoralising defeat for the Dragons.