DRAGON FIZZLE FEAR

ST George- Illawarra coach Paul McGregor is confident his side will avoid a repeat of their late- season slides in recent years and emerge from a taxing Origin period in strong shape to contend for the premiership.

The Dragons capitulated on the home straight last year to miss finals, allowing the Cowboys to sneak into eighth place and kickstart an unlikely burst to the grand final.

They have dropped to third on the table after backto- back losses to Melbourne ( 52- 30) and Wests Tigers ( 20- 16).

Only a late comeback saved them from a shock defeat to bottom side Parramatta the week before, but the fact their stars can now focus solely on club football should help.

The Dragons were affected by Origin more than any other team with Jack De Belin, Paul Vaughan, Ben Hunt, Tyson Frizell, and Tariq Sims all featuring.

But McGregor refused to use fatigue as an excuse after registering back- to- back losses for the first time this season, pointing to Vaughan’s 157m, 33 tackles and seven tackle busts against the Tigers as proof.

“If you look at their minutes and the time off they’ve had in between ( it should be an issue),” McGregor said after the game.

“Paul Vaughan, for argument’s sake, played big minutes in all three ( Origins), and he was probably best on field.

“We can probably monitor their workloads at training, but at this stage we have to get together and start working hard towards the end of the year.

“Every team goes through different stages where you play your best footy, and when you’re a bit off your best. We’ve been good up until now about maintaining standards against all opposition, we dropped those today and it was the first time this year we’ve lost two in a row.

“We want to fix that up pretty quick.”

The Dragons led the league after seven rounds last year, but dropped 11 of their final 17 games to narrowly miss the eight after they were upset by the Bulldogs in the final round.