The Brisbane Broncos have kept their late charge to the finals steaming with a grinding 10-6 win over premiership leaders St George Illawarra in front of a Sunday crowd of 42,269 at Suncorp Stadium.
In a hotly-contested encounter, the Broncos' young brigade scrambled hard in defence all afternoon and went within two minutes of being the first team to keep St George scoreless in 2010.
It was hardly a fluid performance from the Brisbane side, who were inaccurate with the boot, but big efforts from the Broncos' stars proved enough to take the victory and worryingly send the Dragons to defeat for the third time in four games.
Israel Folau was the two-try hero for the home-team, scoring the only try of the first half with a great solo effort before being in the right place at the right time to plant the loose-ball to seal the result for his side.
The visitors made strong meters from the opening set and looked destined for first points less than five minutes in, but a big defensive effort from birthday-boy Alex Glenn on Dragons fullback Darius Boyd kept the Broncos line uncrossed.
Mark Gasnier was a late inclusion in the St George side after Dean Young was ruled out with a hamstring injury and the former club captain was in the thick of it early, rushing up for a vital tackle on Peter Wallace before going close to latching on in a Dragons aerial raid.
The contest was showing early signs of developing into a war of attrition, and the first of a few flare ups came when Broncos half-back Peter Wallace was controversially placed on report for a borderline high-shot on Beau Scott.
In a faltering first half, the deadlock was eventually broken in the 30th minute, thanks to a bruising individual effort from the AFL-bound Folau.
The Broncos had been looking to find their high-flyer on the end of a kick all half, but it was only when Lockyer sent it wide through the hands that the big centre could have his impact.
With little space to work in, Folau was all power and beat an all-star cast of Ben Hornby, Brett Morris, Matt Cooper and Boyd, on his way to registering the only points of the first half.
Jharal Yow Yeh almost had the Broncos off to the perfect second-half start, but his 15-metre run to the try-line was all for nothing when his grassed attempt at a one-on-one strip was ruled a knock-on.
Referees Gavin Badger continued to have a big influence on the game, and pedantic rulings continued to raise the ire of the Suncorp crowd and the on-field players alike.
Dragons' skipper Hornby almost had his side back on level-pegging when he put back-rower Ben Creagh through a gap, only for the back-rower's bouncing journey to the line to be ruled a double movement by video ref, Paul Simpkins.
For the majority of the second frame, opportunities were rare as time and again it was the Dragons defusing the Broncos air-orientated attack, but failing to seriously threaten in response.
But the star five-eighths were both out to settle the result late and with less than 15 minutes to go it was first a Lockyer break, and then a Soward chip and chase, that provided the best chances albeit for no result.
Persistence finally paid dividends for the home side, and when