St George Illawarra Dragons

Both teams went down in Round 4 in contrasting losses, with the unfancied Dolphins fighting to the last inch in their blockbuster 'Battle for Brisbane' derby against the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.

The Dragons however suffered another second-half capitulation in their derby loss to the Nicho Hynes-inspired Cronulla Sharks, letting in seven tries in their 40-8 defeat.

The Broncos trailed 16-8 at halftime and the scores were locked at 18-18 until the 71st minute but they finished too strong to ensure an epic build up to the historic clash with their new cross-town rivals on Friday night. 

The Dragons opened the scoring through winger Mat Feagai in the sixth minute but they were on the back foot in the opening exchanges as Selwyn Cobbo had a try disallowed and Kotoni Staggs scored.

After upsetting the premiers in Round 1 the Broncos ran hot in a 28-16 victory over the Cowboys last week, with fullback Reece Walsh stealing the show in his club debut and Ezra Mam having a night out in the halves. 

The Dragons meanwhile defied pre-season expectations to overcome the Titans, with former Bronco Ben Hunt their standout player and Tyrell Sloan proving lethal at fullback. 

St George Illawarra led by as much as 22-6 late in the first half, but didn't pull away until late and were ahead by just four points when Molo was sent from the field for a high tackle on Patrick Herbert, which ruled the Titan out for the remainder of the game.

The Gold Coast meanwhile failed to take advantage of their numerical advantage in the closing exchanges, and in the end collapsed badly to leak three tries in that period. 

Seemingly in good shape in eighth position just six weeks ago, the Dragons have now slumped to 11th and will miss the finals for a fourth straight year - the longest absence since joint venture began in 1999.

Meanwhile, despite being well out of the finals race, the Titans have shown positive signs in the past month, desperate to avoid their second wooden spoon in four years.

When these sides met in Round 10 it was the Titans prevailing 20-16 in Magic Round. Justin Holbrook's men then lost 10 in a row before stunning the Sea Eagles at Cbus Super Stadium.

Currently ninth on 22 competition points, the Raiders meet the Dragons (11th), Knights (13th), Sea Eagles (10th) and Wests Tigers (15th) in their last four matches and will need at least three wins as well as a significant boost to their for-and-against which sits at -33.

The Dragons' narrow loss to Cronulla leaves them two games outside the eight with a points differential of -130, meaning they would need four massive wins to have any hope of sneaking in.

When these sides met six weeks ago and it was the Dragons prevailing 12-10 in a controversial finish at WIN Stadium.

With four games to play the Sharks are in the box seat to snare a crucial top-four position while the season appears to be over for the Dragons.

The Sharks needed only three minutes to open the scoring when Nicho Hynes strolled over from close range before the Dragons hit back in the ninth minute when a Ben Hunt bomb was spilled by Ronaldo Mulitalo and Jack de Belin picked up the scraps to score.

The Dragons went down a man in the 12th minute when Tariq Sims was sent to the bin for high contact on Sharks winger Connor Tracey.

Sitting third on 28 competition points, the Sharks play the sides coming 11th, 15th, 10th, 12th and 14th in the final five games so a home final at PointsBet Stadium beckons. 

The Dragons hit a major hurdle on Sunday when they were totally outplayed by the Cowboys and their misfiring attack must be a huge concern to coach Anthony Griffin.

Given that Cronulla boast the third best defensive record in the NRL the Dragons will need to find a whole lot more with ball in hand if they are to topple the Sharks for the first time since round five, 2020.

Sitting third on 28 competition points, the Sharks play the sides coming 11th, 15th, 10th, 12th and 14th in the final five games so a home final at PointsBet Stadium beckons. 

The Dragons hit a major hurdle on Sunday when they were totally outplayed by the Cowboys and their misfiring attack must be a huge concern to coach Anthony Griffin.

Given that Cronulla boast the third best defensive record in the NRL the Dragons will need to find a whole lot more with ball in hand if they are to topple the Sharks for the first time since round five, 2020.

When the two sides met in round 14 it was the Cowboys running away with the game 31-12 in Townsville and Todd Payten's men have gone on with the job since then to sit alone in second spot.

Should the Cowboys go on to secure an all important top-four spot they will look back on the round 15 miracle comeback against Manly and the round 19 great escape against the Tigers as pivotal moments in their season.