Dragons coach Dean Young said ladder position would not have any bearing on motivation for the side\u2019s final three matches of the regular season, while also assuring fans the last-placed St George Illawarra\u2019s best games were still ahead of them.<\/p>\n
For the first time in months, the Dragons face the prospect of clawing their way off the bottom of the NRL ladder \u2013 at least mathematically \u2013 after they held on in a nail-biting finish to beat the Wests Tigers 24-22 at Commbank Stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/p>\n
The Red V posted their first back-to-back wins since August last year, bolstering their shock upset of Cronulla a week earlier with another strong performance.<\/p>\n
The win marked Young\u2019s fourth as a first grade coach, having taken over the reins at St George Illawarra from Shane Flanagan in April, and being appointed his full-time replacement in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s special. That\u2019s why you want to play footy and work hard \u2013 to have moments like this,\u201d Young said of the performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just really happy for these guys because they\u2019re the ones putting the effort in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last eight weeks we\u2019ve been in positions to win games in the last 20 minutes, but haven\u2019t been quite good enough. Beating a top four team in Cronulla last week gave the boys lots of confidence and it\u2019s slowly building.<\/p>\n
The Tigers were promising in patches during the loss, completing at 90 per cent and occasionally going on a run thanks to breakthrough debutant Solomane Saukuru, who scored a double.<\/p>\n
The win takes the Dragons to within four points of both the 15th-placed Gold Coast Titans and 16th-placed Brisbane Broncos, with three regular season fixtures remaining.<\/p>\n
However, Young was not fazed at the prospect of climbing off the bottom of the ladder.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not my focus. We\u2019re not making the semis so in the end I just wanted to get the boys to buy into try and get better each and every week, which is what they\u2019re doing. Where ever we land we land,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe expectation is we finish the year off strong, we\u2019ve made a lot of change since I\u2019ve taken over and I can\u2019t thank the players and the staff enough for buying into that change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing it through and we\u2019ve still got a lot of improvement in us. I thought we were the better team and we were in control of the game most of the night. But we were still fighting for the win at the back end so we still need to learn our lessons on Wednesday and move forward into the Dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young declined to heap praise on his outside backs, Tyrell Sloan and Moses Suli, who both crossed for tries and had breakout individual performances \u2013 despite facing uncertain futures beyond this year, with Sloan headed for the Super League and Suli told he has permission to look elsewhere for 2027.<\/p>\n