He might have just coached the Dragons for the last time, but master coach Wayne Bennett says he won't lose any sleep as he waits to learn his side's NRL finals fate.
St George Illawarra's premiership defence could be over by Sunday after they relinquished a six-point half-time buffer on the way to a 21-12 defeat against Wests Tigers in a pulsating qualifying final on Friday night.
The fifth-placed Dragons must rely on two of the three teams below them - Knights, Cowboys and Warriors – to lose this weekend in order to progress to next week's semi finals.
If the Saints are bundled out it will mark the third consecutive year the fifth-ranked team has crashed out in the opening week of the finals.
"I'll go home, try and get a good night's sleep and sit it out until Sunday night, see where it all is," Bennett, who will coach Newcastle next season, said.
St George Illawarra were held scoreless in the second half and Bennett concedes his men simply had no answer for the in-form Tigers who piled on 15-unanswered points.
"They got a roll-on in the second half and we just didn't get a look in," Bennett said.
"We should have been full of confidence, we'd done a great job first half and it was our game."
Bennett said he was comfortable with Benji Marshall's opening try saying 'I think it touched his foot somewhere'.
Marshall received the benefit of the doubt after he botched a clearing kick in the fourth minute but regathered the ball and sprinted 35m to score a controversial four-pointer.
The Dragons bounced back with two tries before the break but lost their way badly in the second stanza.
"They've won eight or nine games in a row, they're on a roll and you just can't give them that much ball up your end," skipper Ben Hornby said.
"It's not ideal, we've obviously we've taken our future out of our hands now so there's nothing we can do about it but sit and wait."
Despite his disappointment, Hornby is adamant the Dragons can turn things around if given a second chance.
"Without a doubt," he said.
"We just need to carry on what we did in the first half in the second half and we would have been fine, so there's no reason why we can't replicate that next week.