His team may have just suffered a fifth loss in a row to Melbourne on Friday night but St George Illawarra coach Wayne Bennett saw enough positive signs in the defeat to convince him the reigning premiers can still be a threat for this year's title.
After following their loss to the Sharks in the early rounds of the competition with 11 wins on end, prompting one bookmaker to pay out on the minor premiership midway through the season, the Dragons have fallen in a hole.
With the representative season taking a heavy toll as a host of stars were called on for Australian and then State of Origin duties, Bennett's men have now claimed just five of a possible 22 points with only two wins and a draw from their past 11 games.
But Bennett and skipper Ben Hornby were adamant after the 8-6 result, much like Bennett had been two weeks earlier following a narrow defeat to Wests Tigers, that there is still enough hunger another run at the premiership.
"On tonight's performance yes (I think we can win again)," Bennett said.
"Probably the Wests Tigers (game) we played well too."
"We've played a couple of top teams the last three weeks decided by two points and we've lost both of them."
"They're the benchmark in the comp at the moment, is that 12 in a row (they've won and we) got beaten by a penalty goal."
"I think we'll be ok."
Bennett's confidence was in stark contrast to five days earlier when the Dragons had suffered a demoralising defeat to wooden-spoon contenders the Sydney Roosters, the team they beat in last year's grand final.
After that loss the mastercoach had admitted he had 'no idea' why the club was struggling so much but he was a lot more encouraged on Friday night to push the ladder leaders, especially on the road and without centre Mark Gasnier and winger Brett Morris.
"That was an excellent effort by us out there," Bennett said.
"We all turned up here tonight and wanted to play well."
"(We) put the effort in that has been missing a little bit."
"We did a lot of great things out there and I'm more than happy with the effort."
"I had a team that turned up here tonight and showed us what they can do."
"You don't always have to win to get some satisfaction at what you do."
And while Melbourne dominated long stretches of the second half without putting their opponents away, Hornby also believed there was plenty to take out of the game even though they didn't get the result.
"It didn't feel like it was going wrong to us out there, there was two points in it right up until the end," Hornby said.
"Our passes just didn't stick in the second half."
"To their credit in the first half they were able to stop us when we were on top and some weeks that happens."