To get a sense of how much St George Illawarra need their upcoming NRL bye, listen to coach Paul McGregor explain why NSW Origin back-rower Tyson Frizell didn't play in the dying minutes of their loss to Gold Coast.
"He had an ankle and a rib going in (to the match)," McGregor said after Friday's clash.
"He was able to come back on but he was limping when he was out there for most of the first half anyway so to put him back out there wasn't the right thing to do for his welfare."
Frizell and Blues teammate Josh Dugan (corked thigh) didn't finish the match, while Blake Lawrie's NRL debut ended midway through the second half when he was concussed.
McGregor admits his team are "busted" and their slump from six wins and one loss after seven rounds to a 9-7 record after 16 matches has a lot to do with that.
"We haven't had the same team on the park since round eight, that's the truth of it," he said.
"Every team's going through something, the other room (Titans) probably got the same, they went through a little bit earlier and we're going through ours now.
"There's no doubt we're still in a good position to make finals footy."
One change which created plenty of debate in the lead-up was McGregor's decision to send Josh McCrone to the interchange bench and partner Kurt Mann with Gareth Widdop in the halves.
McGregor defended the decision, saying the Dragons did enough to crack the Titans' line but then let themselves down.
"That didn't have a bearing on the result," he said.
"I wasn't unhappy with Kurt.
"The boys were gallant but our discipline - 11 penalties against us is poor - and then our execution wasn't good enough."
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