The man who has done more than anyone to fill St George Illawarra with self-doubt at the back-end of the season has warned against writing the Dragons off.
Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens has plotted the Saints' demise twice in the past two months to leave the premiers' title defence hanging by a thread.
The Dragons must beat the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night before toppling Manly in another sudden-death match the following week if they are to reach a second consecutive grand final.
Watching them from the other side of the draw will be the Tigers, who pulled off a 16-14 win over the Red V in Round 22 before following that up with a 21-12 victory in the first qualifying final.
Asked if St George Illawarra could still make an impact on the competition after losing seven of their past 10 games, Sheens fired back: "Hell, yeah."
"We got beaten first game (in last year's semis) and came back and won the next game."
"It'll be a tough game for them (Saints) - Brisbane in Brisbane - but they are capable of winning it for sure."
"They are the premiers from last year. You don't do that and the next year lose it completely."
"They haven't been far away all year. We had a couple of things bounce our way (last week) to get us through so I don't think they're going to panic."
The Dragons enter Saturday night's game $2.15 outsiders, having only beaten Brisbane once in their past five encounters.
They will confront a 50,000-strong crowd intent on seeing Darren Lockyer go out a winner in his final match in Brisbane.
But for all that, the Dragons head north in a positive mood.
"We're confident about going up there and playing well," second-rower Ben Creagh said.
"If we play for 80 minutes we'll be competitive and do well against them."
Prop Michael Weyman added: "We've got this week to prove people wrong and change things."