Are St George Illawarra NRL contenders or pretenders?
They're about to find out as they face a rare stretch without star playmaker Gareth Widdop over the next six weeks.
Dragons skipper Widdop is expected to be sidelined for the next month-and-a-half with an ankle injury, handing Paul McGregor's side the ultimate test of their mettle.
Sunday's top-of-the-table clash against Widdop's former club Melbourne at WIN Stadium will be just the second match the No.6 has missed since arriving in Wollongong in 2014.
Utility Kurt Mann will deputise at five-eighth, forming an untried halves partnership with Josh McCrone.
For a side that's hummed like a well-oiled machine in the first eight weeks, it remains to be seen what effect the loss of their attacking fulcrum will have on them.
Widdop has been superb in 2016 - he's the competition's highest pointscorer with 87 including six tries. He has also been responsible for setting up most of the Dragons' points with eight try assists and eight linebreak assists.
But the Dragons and stand-in captain Tyson Frizell remains undeterred.
"Nothing really changes, whoever slots in there," Frizell said.
"We'll do the job and as a team we don't need to change too much.
"We're very confident in what Mary (McGregor) will do and rearrange things."
The Dragons are set to receive the ultimate litmus test of whether their attack can still fire against the Storm.
Once again the Storm have been the most outstanding defensive team in the competition this year.
The purple wall has conceded the least points (12.4 per game) and the least linebreaks (2.6).
"These are the games you want to play in and they're the teams you want to play against," Frizell said.
"They're probably the benchmark team at the moment."
STATS THAT MATTER
* Melbourne are looking to win their opening five away matches of a season for the first time in the club's history.
* Cameron Smith requires four goals to equal Jason Taylor (942) as the all-time leading goalkicker in premiership history.
* The Dragons have won just nine of 23 matches against the Storm, their worst winning record against any team.
Source: Fox Sports Stats
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