If you'd said before the season started that the Tigers would manage consecutive wins before the Dragons, it would not have boded well for the future of Anthony Griffin.
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Nor would two wins through 10 rounds, but it's where the Dragons sit after yet another agonisingly close defeat to the Tigers, 18-16, in Brisbane on Sunday.
Their fifth straight loss came despite a star two-try turn from Jayden Sullivan after being injected 16 minutes before the break.
It saw Ben Hunt make a well-publicised switch to dummy-half. He's made no secret of the fact it's not a shift he relishes, but he may need to get used to it despite the defeat.
The Dragons were down 14-4 after a sluggish start when Sullivan grabbed the interchange card, the 21-year-old making an immediate impact with a try just seven minutes after being subbed on.
He followed up that incisive 30-metre sprint with another close range effort 12 minutes into the second half to give his side the lead and all the momentum, but it wasn't enough.
Under the pump for most of the second 40, the Tigers manufactured a try to Junior Tupou with 16 minutes to go and miraculously held on from there, fullback Jahream Bula producing a try-saver on a runaway Mikaele Ravalawa in the dying moments.
It came after Hunt toed through a wayward pass and regathered in the clear. The ball passed through four sets of hands, including those of a rampaging Moses Suli, who looked as if he might score himself before opting for a flick pass.
It hit the deck, but Ravalawa did everything but score after reeling in the loose ball, Bula producing a second match-defining try-saver in as many weeks for the Tigers.
"It was extraordinary," Tigers coach Tim Sheens said post-match.
"He tackled the centre (Suli) and then let him go and chased and shoved the big winger (Ravalawa) over the sideline.
"[It was] match-winning stuff, the same as last week. He's a pretty fair player."
Sullivan's cameo will lend itself to questions as to whether Griffin should have bitten the bullet and shifted Hunt to nine from the jump, or if he'll do so for Hunt's 300th game next week.
"I thought [Sullivan] had good patches," Griffin said.
"We attacked really well in periods so he did a good job. I think we'll digest this and have a look at it, but I thought in general it worked pretty well.
"I thought it made us a little bit more dangerous at times, but we'll digest today and have a look at it."
For his part, Hunt felt his side's ill-discipline didn't give the move a chance to fully flourish.
"We didn't really get a good opportunity to see what it was like," Hunt said.
"We were good in periods but just didn't give ourselves a chance. We talked all week about completing high and just building pressure and I think both first good-ball sets we got in each half, we dropped the ball and went over the sideline.
"We just need to get through full sets of six when we get a good ball set, make the defence do some tackling, try and get them tired, and eventually you'll find some more tries.
"We're just throwing it away on early tackles in the tackle count and not building any pressure. We just didn't give ourselves a chance."
While reports are that Grifin's cards are already marked beyond this season, the re-shuffle looked like a final pitch at a future beyond this year given that, once Sullivan was subbed in, Ravalawa became the oldest member of the backline at just 25.
The foibles of youth were also on display throughout, with Tyrell Sloan apparently determined to give his coach a cardiac episode in the minutes before halftime.
The 20-year-old first forced a perilous pass en route to his own in-goal that almost resulted in a gimme try to Luke Brooks three minutes before the break.
He also fumbled a Brandon Wakeham grubber after it deflected off the upright on the stroke of halftime that looked to have resulted in a try to Api Koroisau.
He dodged that bullet, but it was an inexplicable cross-field drift and attempted grubber for himself 10 metres out from his own line once first-half time had expired that truly beggared belief.
None of it cost his side points, but it no doubt earned a firm tug of the collar in the sheds at halftime. He wouldn't have been alone, with the Dragons again their worst enemy in the discipline stakes throughout.
The jury remains out on the Hunt-Sullivan experiment, but it may be case of too little too late regardless for Griffin, who was again left to field questions about his tenure in the aftermath.
"It just is what it is at the moment, we're close but we're just doing enough to get beat," Griffin said.
"For long periods there we were coming to get the game in the second half and we were patient. Just at vital times we'd come up with the wrong option, or we'd come up with an error in the play-the-ball, or give away our ball early in the set.
"It's heartbreaking for everyone. You're just losing by two, and if you can change a few of those situations in the game, you're not trying to score a try with about 30 seconds to go.
"We could have had three or four wins over the last five weeks, but we haven't. There's a knife edge in it.
"We could be sitting here in a whole different position.The only thing that's going to change it is [for] us to keep chasing it and learning from it.
"We can take [a bad] attitude and become defeatist, but that's not going to happen. We've just got to stare it in the face and keep going."
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For the Tigers it was another gritty win having stunned reigning premiers Penrith last week with a similarly desperate defensive display down the stretch.
It also saw them overcome the late withdrawal of star forward John Bateman, who twinged a hamstring in the warm-up to be a late scratching.
The Tigers opened the scoring when some backchat from Bird saw a six-again turned into a penalty 20 metres out from his own line.
Wakeham made no mistake, but the Dragons hit back quickly when Tupou fumbled a Hunt bomb straight into the arms of Jaydn Su'A, who found Ravalawa for the opening try.
The Tigers first try came in similar fashion, with Max Feagai unable to diffuse a cross-field kick from Brooks. It left Starford To'a to collect the scraps and cross for an 8-4 lead with Wakeham's conversion.
The Tigers were perhaps unfortunate not to cross under the posts two plays earlier - with referee Peter Gough doing enough to be credited for a tackle on a runaway Bula.
Bula was in the action again for the Tigers next try, juggling a ball from Wakeham and tipping it onto David Noufoaluma who carried three defenders across.
Wakeham continued a faultless day off the tee with a sideline conversion giving his side a 14-4 lead 16 minutes before the break.
He followed up with a pinpoint 40-20 to put his side back on the attack, though it led to an underwhelming set.
It was one of a couple from the Tigers, compounded by Wakeham not finding touch with what looked like a relieving penalty at their own end of the park.
It opened the door for Sullivan to slice through for his side's second try, the youngster also nailing the conversion to cut the margin back to four, six minutes before the break.
The Tigers looked to have gone further ahead when an opportunistic grubber from Wakeham on the stroke of halftime took a deflection off the posts, Sloan fumbling the deflection in his own in-goal.
Koroisau won the race to the rolling ball, but couldn't ground it either, handing the Dragons a reprieve despite having dictated terms for the bulk of the opening stanza.
The Dragons struck first in the second half after Sullivan was felled after kicking by Asu Kepaoa. Sullivan picked himself up off the turf to step his way across for his second try of the afternoon.
His conversion put his side back in front 16-14 with still 25 minutes to play.
With their grip on the match slipping, the Tigers found a hit back through Tupou with 14 minutes left to re-take a two-point lead.
It didn't look anywhere near like enough but it proved to be, with Ravalawa going desperately close to a go-ahead try in the final moments only to be denied by some desperate Tigers scramble.
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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.
