St George Illawarra have set up a blockbuster final NRL round after upsetting Penrith 16-14 at Pepper Stadium on Sunday.
The equation is simple for the Dragons - beat Canterbury next Sunday night and jump from ninth into the top eight.
With the Panthers to meet Manly on Saturday, the Dragons are then guaranteed to play finals.
After a rollercoaster season in which they led the competition after seven rounds before losing 10 of their next 15 games, the Dragons are still alive.
They shook off the distraction of Josh Dugan being dropped for disciplinary reasons to hold on against the Panthers, with skipper Gareth Widdop outstanding in the clutch.
The Dragons, Panthers, Manly and North Queensland - who play Brisbane on Thursday night - all face potential sudden-death match ups in round 26.
"How important is it? It's the most important one," coach Paul McGregor said.
"The key to making finals is taking it into our own hands. We've just got to make it happen.
"We're capable of doing it and I've seen this team grow in all areas of the game and today was another example."
Meanwhile, the Warriors blew a seven-point lead with seven minutes remaining to lose what seemed like a guaranteed two points against Manly at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday.
Manly scored through Tom Trbojevic before Daly Cherry-Evans booted two field goals - including an under-pressure left-footer in golden point - to snatch the vital win.
On Saturday, Michael Gordon booted a clutch penalty conversion as the Sydney Roosters held off a Cronulla fightback to win 16-14.
The Roosters overcame the sin-binning of Luke Keary in the final nine minutes to move ahead of Brisbane into second.
Melbourne obliterated South Sydney 64-6 as the minor premiers made a bold statement to the rest of the competition one week out from the finals.
The Gold Coast failed to fire up following the sacking of coach Neil Henry as they were beaten 26-14 by Canterbury.
The injury-ravaged North Queensland continue to fight hard and kept their top eight hopes alive with a 22-14 win over the Wests Tigers on Friday.
A Jordan Rapana hat-trick fired Canberra to a 46-28 victory over the last-placed Newcastle.
Brisbane's premiership campaign hit the rocks following their 52-34 flogging at the hands of Parramatta on Thursday with prop Korbin Sims suffering a season-ending broken arm.
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