St George Illawarra's forwards have finally shrugged off their much derided 'soft' tag, according to the joint venture's star playmaker Benji Marshall.
On the back of four successive wins the Dragons have rocketed up to third on the NRL ladder and emerged as finals candidates over the last month.
The Dragons finally found their gear in attack on Sunday, thrashing Canterbury 31-6, with Marshall and his halves partner Gareth Widdop firing.
In early May last year former Dragons coach Steve Price lambasted his forwards for their "soft performance" in a 38-6 thumping to the Dogs, and a cascade of criticism followed for the men up front in the Red V for much of the year.
But under new coach Paul McGregor things have dramatically changed and Marshall said his forwards can take the credit.
"Our forwards have copped a lot of criticism over the past year but I really feel the past four games that we have won in a row, they are the reason why," Marshall told AAP.
"The effort they are putting in for each other in defence and how hard they are running the ball in attack, their attitude is there and when they create quick play the balls for the halves it goes a long way to us scoring more points.
"They copped it, they really did cop it, but we have a different team this year to what we have had in the past and I feel like the work we did in the pre-season all our forwards have really stood up and led the way."
McGregor has overseen a significant change over of personnel for this season, and Marshall praised the former Kangaroos three-quarter for the faith he has shown in the Dragons playing group, especially after two disappointing losses first up.
"Losing the first two was tough, but turning that around shows how much character we do have in the team," Marshall said.
"A lot of credit has to go to the coaching staff for the way they have helped us turn it around because they have demanded better and trained us harder.
"Sometimes you don't like that, but that is what reaping us rewards on the field."
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