Dragons' favourite son Jason Nightingale has seen some improvements at the club under new head coach Anthony Griffin but wants to see greater consistency emerge.
The Dragons have won seven of their 15 games and sit at seventh on the competition ladder.
Nightingale, who has worked alongside Griffin this season, believes the team is in a "decent position" moving forward.
"We’re sort of there or thereabouts but I think there’s probably a lot of teams in the competition are there or thereabouts ... We’re looking to improve; we’ve improved a lot in a lot of ways and just make sure that we keep that up and rise a bit more," Nightingale said.
"I think we’ve put ourselves in a decent position because of the way we started and we still are in a decent position, it’s just maintaining that through the next probably five or six weeks to make sure that we are there or thereabouts in the top eight come the end of the season."
As of now, the Sharks and Cowboys sit on equal points, whilst the Raiders, Warriors, and Knights are one game behind.
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Nightingale described the Dragons form as "up-and-down" through much of the year.
"On our best day, we’ve shown that we can put it with the best and so we’ll just be looking to maintain it in this little period and getting through in a great position to have a run at the finals," he said.
"I think [we have to] just lay the platform for us to be in the finals. We’ve got the opportunity to do that."
Nightingale's 250th
Nightingale has "definitely" been impressed by the work of Griffin in his first year at the club and expects further improvements to come.
"You look at the way they’re playing, it’s definitely got a brand of footy and you know sort of what style they’ve got," he said.
"They’re defending for each other a lot of the time… [It’s] not perfect but definitely improved and I’m sure Hook [Griffin] will be improving them even more.”
The likes of Cody Ramsey, Max Feagai, Jayden Sullivan, Mathew Feagai, Junior Amone and Tyrell Sloan have all debuted over the past 12 months, with Nightingale crediting the Dragons’ pathways system for their development.
"They’ve been a great burst of energy… Their energy and their approach and application is really, really impressive," Nightingale said.
"They’re very professional for young kids and I think that’s a credit to the system they’ve come through. The Dragons’ junior system is strong and their academy they’re building both here in St. George and in Wollongong is going to continue to churn out those sort of players."
Nightingale’s life after footy
Nightingale was in attendance for the opening of the Spirit of the Red V museum at St. George League’s Club on Wednesday.
A premiership winner in 2010, Nightingale was excited "to step through time" and browse through pieces of memorabilia.
"It’s something to be celebrated and definitely to be here and see the exhibit and some of the things that are immortalised does put things in perspective how much of a rich history our great club has," he said.
"[I was] lucky enough to play for this club my whole career and to be able to taste success… I think to go along with the rich history of those that came before us was really great."
