Eels prolong Dragons run of outs as pressure mounts on McGregor
Dragons Den
BATTLING: The Dragons slumped to their 11th loss in their last 13 outings against Parramatta on Sunday. Picture: NRL Photos
IT'S their spiritual home but the Dragons could well be walking into the lion's den at Kogarah next Saturday after slumping to a 12-4 loss to the Eels at the famed venue on Sunday.
Their afternoon began on a horror note when they lost Zac Lomax to a hamstring injury in the warm-up just one game into his return from a broken thumb.
It was a moment that largely summed up their season, with the following 80 minutes telling the same story despite a game second-half effort after trailing 10-0 at halftime.
With fans already applying the blowtorch to coach Paul McGregor after just two wins in their last 13 games, next week's clash with last-placed Gold Coast will see the heat turned up even further.
The finals-bound Eels went into Sunday's clash on the back of four wins from their last five games. The Titans, playing under a pair of interim coaches following the sacking of Garth Brennan, have lost their last six including a 58-6 pasting at the hands of the Roosters in Sunday's earlier fixture.
Having booed their side from the park at the same venue last season - when they were en route to the finals - Dragons fans could tear their spiritual home to the ground should they lose to the Titans.
Euan Aitken and Paul Vaughan both finished the match on report for crusher tackles, while Vaughan left the field with 11 minutes to play after producing an incredible one-handed try-saving tackle on Clint Gutherson while nursing a badly dislocated finger.
It adds to McGregor's headaches that no longer include even the slimmest of finals hopes with five more games to play.
"Today obviously puts away any thought of playing finals regardless of the results so it's tough," McGregor said.
"We've played two teams [the last two weeks] in the top six, one of them was running second and one of them was running sixth or seventh, they've won five of their last seven.
"They're playing with a bit of confidence, we're down on confidence at the moment obviously, we're not winning games of footy so everything's a little bit clunky and our execution's not where it needs to be.
"I'm not going to hide from the fact that, when you're not winning games of footy, everyone wants to know why and the reasons behind it. Everyone wants to come at you and attack you.
"As a coach you've just got to make sure you're comfortable being uncomfortable, I'm competitive as ever so you just want to make sure you finish on a strong note to the year.
"We've got another game next week and, the last couple of weeks have been pretty hard because, when you're not winning games, you're out of finals contention and you build you're whole year and team around that... it's difficult."
Maika Sivo started what was a dominant first 40 minutes for the Eels, opening the scoring just four minutes in off a kick from Moses who also converted from the sideline for a 6-0 lead.
They had to wait another 18 minutes for their second that came through Dylan Brown, who charged onto an offload from Shaun Lane and burned the cover defence on a 40-metre run to the line. Moses' attempt at the extras was waved away, keeping the score at 10-0 at the break.
The Dragons struck first in the second stanza, with Mikaele Ravalawa - Lomax's late replacement - benefitting from Gareth Widdop's bat back of a Corey Norman bomb to post his side's first points. Widdop's attempted conversion bounced off the upright, keeping the margin at six with still 34 minutes to play.
Vaughan's effort on a runaway Gutherson saved a try but conceded a penalty and two more points to Moses for an eight-point cushion with with 11 minutes to go. It proved the final margin.
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