The Dragons were the better side through the first 40 minutes, barring a two-minute lapse that saw them concede tries in consecutive sets, but once again faded badly in the second stanza to concede four unanswered tries in an eventual 26-point shellacking.

It was the continuation of the second half woes that have plagued the Dragons season, Anthony Griffin's side having been out-scored in second stanzas by a combined 104-26 over their past six games.

It was rendered moot by the final scoreline but, if you were looking for turning points, it would be hard to go past the moment 16 minutes from fulltime when the Dragons were awarded a penalty virtually in front of the sticks.

Trailing 16-8, the call quickly went out to take what would have been a gimme two points for Zac Lomax. Instead, they tapped and went with Ben Hunt coughing up possession with an ill-considered off-load.

Jason Taumalolo burst through the Dragons line the ensuing set to open the door for Jeremiah Nanai's first try, with the points coming in a flood from there.

It was a small moment that told a story of the night, but Griffin said his side didn't take enough out of a largely dominant first half.

"The boys on the field didn't get that call [to take two]. they made a decision pretty quickly and you go with that, they're out there," Griffin said.

"I thought even at 16-8 there with 15 to go we had our opportunity to get back into it, but we just didn't get enough out of our first half.

"We had an opportunity to be in front at halftime and they got a couple of tries back to back and that was sort of the story of the night.

"We had the ball and the field position in the first half and we probably just left a few points out there and they got a couple of cheap tries in the middle of that first half.

"Then they got two or three back to back in the last 15 minutes. We just weren't good enough defensively and the game turned on its head for us in that last 15 minutes."

It leaves them in 11^th spot on the ladder a win adrift of the Roosters and Raiders, and effectively a further loss back due to what is now a -124 differential, with five games to play.

They head to the Shire for a local derby against the high-flying Sharks next week ahead of what shapes as a pivotal showdown with the Raiders in Canberra a week later.

That clash in the capital may be inconsequential should results fall unfavourably next weekend, but Griffin isn't looking that far ahead.

"We just move onto next week, that's all we can do," he said.

"They're second on the ladder for a reason, they were very good. They're a really good attacking side and when they got their good ball against us in the second half we didn't meet the moment there a few times.

"For moments there we scrambled and we were resilient, we turned them away, but then there'd just be a simple miss and they've got some great strike on the outside.

"In the second half they were very controlled and executed very well. They had 65 per cent of the ball or 25 inside-20s to our five there at one stage.

"We just need to learn from tonight, which we will, and move onto next week."

The Dragons made the early running, Ben Hunt almost catching the visitors unaware with a clever chip and chase, with a second raid resulting in a penalty and the first two points to Zac Lomax.

The lead was short-lived, with Scott Drinkwater skipping into space on his side's right edge and finding Kyle Feldt with a brilliant flick pass for the opening try. Valentine Holmes' conversion attempt was waved away, keeping the score 4-2 after 17 minutes.

It was momentary, with Jeremiah Nanai splitting the Dragons defence on halfway in the very next set, finding Drinkwater in support for the second four-pointer.

The Dragons hit back through Jack de Belin, who won the race to a loose ball in the Cowboys in-goal after a favourable deflection off a Hunt off-load. Lomax converted to cut the margin back to two 11 minutes before the break.

The Cowboys enjoyed a mountain of field position through the opening 17 minutes of the second stanza, the pressure telling when Griffin Neame slipped through some flimsy defence to cross under the posts.

It came the set after Jaydn Su'A was penalised for grabbing a fistful of Luciano Leilua's ponytail to drag him down from behind as he attacked the Dragons line.

The Dragons waved off the chance at a settling two points on one of few journeys up the park, with Hunt turning the ball over and putting the Cowboys back on the attack.

Taumalolo took advantage, skittling defenders on a 50-metre dash before being grassed by a brave Moses Mbye.

It was a brief stay, with Nanai crossing on the subsequent play to put the game out of reach at 22-8 with 12 minutes to play.

Holmes put Drinkwater over on the Cowboys next trip up the park to remove all doubt as the margin ballooned to 20 points.

Nanai crossed with six minutes left to extend the margin and see most of the 9517-strong crowd head for the exit prior to fulltime.

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