There'll be a more thorough debrief, but expect St George Illawarra coach Anthony Griffin to issue a strict edict against no-look passes following his side's 24-12 loss to South Sydney on Saturday.
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Last year's grand finalists' led 10-0 at halftime and went on with it in the second half at a wet Accor Stadium, but it was a squandered try midway through the first half that was true water torture for Griffin.
The Dragons were fortunate to only trail 4-0 midway through the opening half given all the running was with the hosts, largely on the back of Damien Cook's incisive running from dummy-half.
Weathering that storm, the Dragons looked certain to take a remarkable lead when Zac Lomax burned his opposite Taane Milne and shot into space on the right edge.
Finding Jack Bird looming unmarked in support didn't require any guess work, but Lomax still opted for a no-look pass that proved an impossible take for Bird and butchered a certain try.
It was as close as the Dragons got to posting first-half points despite enjoying a slight edge in possession and field position.
Keaon Koloamatangi subsequently crossed from close range six minutes before the break to give the Rabbitohs a 10-0 halftime lead.
They never looked like surrendering it from there despite the loss of star fullback Latrell Mitchell, who left the field with a hamstring injury just 14 minutes into the contest after scoring the opening try.
It put a dent in a hot start from the Rabbitohs, though Jason Demetriou had the advantage of injecting Blake Taafe as a ready-made replacement from the bench.
The Dragons showed a brief flicker of resistance when Moses Mbye crossed six minutes into the second half, but it was quickly snuffed out by Rabbitohs skipper Cam Murray's bone-rattler that forced an error from Lomax in the very next set.
Campbell Graham crossed in the set that followed, seizing momentum that the hosts never relinquished, inflicting the Dragons fourth loss on the trot.
Despite little to no return against the Eels last week, Griffin persevered with a new-look spine with Mbye at fullback and Bird at five-eighth.
Whether they showed enough to prolong the experiment into next week remains to be seen but the result, and a definite lack of attacking spark, will certainly leave fans clamouring for young-gun Tyrell Sloan to return at fullback.
"It wasn't the positional changes, it was just straight errors [that cost us]," Griffin said.
"Once we got back in the game we never gave ourselves a chance. I thought we were pretty solid for long periods there but in the second half we had 10-11 errors, a lot of them in our own end. That was the story of the game then.
"It was a missed opportunity. Souths are a really good side, as we are, but we just allowed them to play in our own end for most of that second half.
"Once we got back to 10-6 we should have been cycling and forcing them to bring the ball off their own line but they never had to do that again once we got within range."
Both Griffin and Mbye himself have stated that Sloan and Talatau Amone will return to the spine at some stage.
It may come for the Dragons clash with Newcastle on Easter Sunday in Wollongong, though Griffin remained non-committal post-match.
"For Tyrell, it's about development and learning how to do some things and I don't want to go into what they are," Griffin said.
"They're coaching things that we're trying to help him with and he's responding really well. When the time's right, and his form's right in those areas, like any other player, he'll get his chance.
"The thing with him and Junior (Amone) is that we put them in there last year straight out of the 19s so they haven't played a lot of football against men other than going straight into the NRL.
"It's a credit to them the way they handled it, but this time last year they were playing in the under 19s so there's still a lot for them to learn.
"I want to make sure we care for them and get them the right education and sometimes that's not in first grade."
The Dragons will return to Wollongong staring down the barrel of a 1-5 start to the year, with Saturday's defeat leaving the club with just one win in its last 13 games on the back of eight straight losses to finish last season.
With two of their following three games coming against the Roosters on Anzac Day and the Storm in Melbourne, there'll be no dialling down of the blowtorch for Griffin in the short term but he's not reaching for any panic button.
"NRL seasons are long seasons and at some stage you've got to take your medicine and be resilient. Where we are at the moment, that's key," Griffin said.
"Someone will lose three or four in a row at the back end of the year. However it's happening, we've just got to take responsibility for it and not be victims.
"It's not about the opposition, we're capable of beating anyone. We've just got to get ourselves into a position where we play a full 80 minutes and we earn a win.
"When we do that we'll get three, four or five [wins] but, at the moment, we're beating ourselves and learning some tough lessons.
"At the moment we're getting what we deserve for the errors that we make."
Mitchell crossed for the first try after Damien Cook split the Dragons open through the middle from halfway, Graham offering the final assist for his fullback to open the scoring.
Mitchell's conversion attempt was far less pretty, keeping the score at 4-0 after six minutes.
They looked to have extended the lead 10 minutes later after Graham won the race to a well placed Lachlan Ilias grubber only to fumble the ball in the in-goal.
Lomax created space on the right edge before his questionable pass went behind Bird, with Koloamatangi crossing at the other end of a 10-0 lead.
The Dragons needed to strike first after the break and they did through Mbye, who stepped across from close range after a neat forced restart engineered by Ben Hunt.
It put some win in their sails before Cameron Murray took it straight out with his shot Lomax that forced an error just 20 metres out from the Dragons line.
The Rabbitohs capitalised with a beautiful exchange of passing on the right edge getting Graham across for a 16-6 lead with Taafe's conversion.
Murray looked to have put the result beyond doubt 16 minutes from time only to be denied by the bunker who found an illegal decoy run from Tevita Tatola.
Taafe's 72nd minute penalty goal kept the scoreboard ticking over as the second half petered out into mistake-athon before Taane Milne hammered in the final nail with two minutes left to play.
Jaydn Su'A scored the final try with 12 seconds left but it was little consolation on another forgettable afternoon for the red v faithful.
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
