The Dragons cemented a place in the 2015 NRL Finals Series with an extra-time win over the Tigers on Saturday night – but it didn't come easy.
Mary finds the positives for the Dragons
Despite his team seemingly limping into the NRL finals after an uninspiring golden point victory over the Tigers, Dragons coach Paul McGregor refused to focus on the negatives ahead of his team's first trip to the finals in four years.
"I'm full of praise for the players, it's been a long, tough year from where we come from in October to where we are now," McGregor said.
"The scoreboard doesn't paint the picture, the two points do and it puts us in the eight.
"From where these guys came from to where we are now we've got people playing busted we're missing good players and we're still here."
Taylor reveals the most disappointing aspect of the Tigers' season
Even though his team came back late in stunning fashion against the Dragons, Tigers coach Jason Taylor was disappointing with the all-round effort of his side – saying a lack of consistency reflected the Tigers' whole season.
"It's been a tough year for us, at the start of the season we wanted to improve in the area of being consistent and I don't think we've done that," Taylor said.
"That's the most disappointing thing, we've learnt a lot and we've developed a lot and today's another example of it.
"We get some good performances then we have a game like today where we showed we're good enough to win it but we just weren't there at the start."
McGregor hails 'brave' refs
How often do we see a referee blow a penalty in front of goal, during golden point, when teams are attempting field goals?
Very rarely!
But that's exactly what Matt Ceccin did, against the Tigers as he rightfully pinged Robbie Farah for not being square at marker, to hand the two points to the Dragons.
After the match, McGregor was clearly pleased with the call.
"Finally we got a decision go our way, it's been a tough year," he said.
"It was a brave call but Robbie wasn't square at marker and they're the rules… we got the right call in the end which is great."
Tigers not so happy about game-deciding call
While the Dragons were focusing on the referees' bravery, the Tigers questioned the officials' consistency when reflecting on the offside call that decided the game.
"It's pretty tough considering the circumstances, I've seen a lot of them going unnoticed so it's a tough call," Tigers captain Robbie Farah said.
Meanwhile coach Jason Taylor accepted by the letter of the law the call was probably right.
"I think Robbie's slightly to the side so he probably took that risk," JT said.
"I'm keen to go back and look at where their players were on the ones that we missed."
Dragons could face goal-kicking issue in finals
Josh Dugan had another brilliant game against the Tigers on Saturday night, but his goal-kicking efforts certainly left a lot to be desire in the absence of regular kicker Gareth Widdop.
He converted only half of his team's tries, and sprayed a couple of his attempts badly.
But in the end he kicked the one that sealed victory for his team, and that's all that mattered to his coach.
"He kicked it at the end didn't he, he kicked the one that counted ," McGregor said when asked if he was worried about Dugan's kicking form.
"Gareth [Widdop] will be monitored through the week, he's a chance of playing next week.
"Josh got thrown in the deep end there and he accepted the role and he did the best he could and he kicked the one that was needed in the end."
