Dragons break even ahead of bye with win over depleted Rabbitohs

Staring down the barrel of three straight defeats heading into their first bye of the season, the Dragons led 12-6 at halftime and looked in command of the clash from the jump against the depleted Rabbitohs.

They were entitled to be up by more at the interval given a glut of possession and field position, but a two-point field goal from Zac Lomax on the stroke of halftime proved the definitive moment of the opening stanza.

It came just moments after Rabbitohs skipper Cody Walker was controversially denied a try that would have likely given the visitors a 12-10 lead against the run of play.

Having been sent up 'no-try' the bunker could not find conclusive evidence that Jai Arrow hadn't knocked on in the lead-up despite the ball appearing to come off Jack Bird.

The Dragons subsequently marched up the park and took a six-point cushion into the break courtesy of Lomax's long bomb.

From there the hosts posted three tries to two in the second half to seal the victory and take their ledger to 5-5 through the opening 10 rounds.

It leaves the Rabbitohs anchored to the bottom of the ladder at 1-8, with the respective ledgers nothing close to what most predicted before a ball was kicked this season.

The Dragons will enjoy a week off ahead of a showdown with the resurgent Bulldogs at Homebush on Thursday week.

"I thought Souths competed hard, there were probably just some moments we won more than they did," coach Shane Flanagan said.

"I just thought we just fought for longer to get the result. We've been doing it in patches.

"The games we've fought for long periods of time, then even some of the games we've lost we've fought for periods of time and just haven't been smart enough, or one part of the game we haven't executed properly.

"Today we definitely got it right, Ben (Hunt) kicked really well, we competed really hard and won those moments. I just thought we just fought for longer to get the result.

"It was a really big game for us. Souths had a lot to play for, Latrell coming back, Cody's 200th, so I'm really pleased to get that going into a bye

"It's been a pretty tough start, up and down, and with the preseason that we had I think a few of the boys need a bit of a break, and need a bit of a break from me."

Shane Flanagan's side remains difficult to work out.

Barring a round-two capitulation to the Dolphins, it's hard to find a truly diabolical 80 minutes this season, even in conceding 60 points to the Roosters on Anzac Day.

Likewise, wins have been grafting outside a commanding display against the Warriors in Wollongong in round seven.

Flanagan said in the lead-up to Saturday's clash that, in the absence of big-name gam-breakers in his roster, the Dragons will need to be a hard-working side to win consistently.

Saturday's effort was a lesson in that, and not a bad one to leave his side on heading into a spell, albeit on a win against a severely depleted Rabbitohs.

"It's been pretty up and down, patchy," Hunt said.

"We've shown that we can play good footy for periods of time and we just switch off for little periods.

"It's something that's happened in almost every game, even the ones we've won, so we've got to try and get that out.

"If you told me at the start of the year we'd go into a bye 5-5, I'd probably take it on previous years.

"It's good to get a rest now, but we need to come back and go again."

Hunt had a self-described "shocker" with the boot in similar conditions against the Sharks last week.

It was clearly something he took to heart given what he produced on Saturday night, ensuring returning Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell had his work cut out at the back.

Hunt laid on the first try for Lomax nine minutes in with a perfectly weighted short side grubber, while he ensured Mitchell had no room to move under a sustained aerial barrage.

Hunt went close to laying on another try for Kyle Flanagan when Mitchell all but made a meal of an in-goal clean-up effort, only for the Dragons five-eighth to be even clumsier with his attempt at planting the loose ball.

It was one of four forced drop-outs from the Dragons in the opening 40, Flanagan also forcing Mitchell to run another ball dead seven minutes before the break.

The hosts would have liked to extract more points from the time camped on the Rabbitohs line - and should have when Mikaele Ravalawa spilled a Tyrell Sloan offload cold with the line wide open.

It carried into the second half, with Lomax nailing a penalty goal after being run off the ball by Walker in pursuit of a bomb from Hunt that again put Mitchell under pressure.

Izaac Tu'itupou Thompson spilled another well-placed bomb from Hunt in the same corner 16 minutes later, with Jaydn Su'A scoring the Dragons third try off a grubber from Flanagan in the set that followed.

It played into a kick-happy night from both sides, with Jack de Belin's 72^nd minute try also coming after Sloan kicked through into the Rabbitohs in-goal.

Mitchell's double in his return from suspension also came off a pair of grubbers, the second one Sloan was entitled to clean up with three minutes left.

"I was pretty disappointed last week and Flanno hammered me pretty hard about it too," Hunt said.

"It was a big work on for us this week. We knew if we kicked well we'd give ourselves a chance.

"We've got a really good kick chase team, obviously, on our right edge with Zac, so I just had to stay focused and I put them in the right areas.

"We all know how powerful and devastating [Mitchell] can be with the ball and we just wanted to keep it away from him, not give him a chance."

Lomax looks to have all the attributes to make a good winger at Origin level.

He's shown an unquenchable a thirst for work at his own end, finishing ability, and is fast becoming the most potent aerial threat in the game (though Xavier Coates may gave a different view).

But does any other winger possess his ability with the boot?

He's an obvious goal-kicking option, but he also sits on his Pat Malone in the competition's two-point field-goal stats column.

He nailed his first from deep against the Warriors for a major psychological blow on the stroke of halftime in round seven, and repeated the effort on Saturday night for a six-point lead at the break.

With the likes of Nathan Cleary and Adam Reynolds - arguably the two best exponents of the long-range field goal - absent from this year's series, it can only help Lomax's selection cause that he can seemingly nail them from anywhere.

"Zac's always in there trying to give us tips on what to do," Hunt joked.

"He practices his kicking game all the time at training and now we know, if we get in that situation, we've got to try and get him a chance [at it]."