Latrell Mitchell entered beast mode as the Sydney Roosters emerged as the biggest threat to Melbourne's title defence with a 36-18 flogging of fellow contenders St George Illawarra.
After coach Trent Robinson asked his star centre to produce his best consistently days before the game, the 21-year-old scored a hat-trick to take his post-State of Origin tally to five tries and 44 points in just two games.
It helped the Roosters claim their seventh win in eight games, as they moved up to third on the NRL ladder, ahead of ear ly pace-setters St George Illawarra who go fourth.
"I think he's done some really good stuff there," Robinson said of Mitchell.
"He was a beast out there when he needed to be. He knew when to get across the line and he was very strong in that area.
"I knew as soon as he walked back in after that weekend off that he and the others would be ready to go. You could see that fire in him."
However their first win over a fellow top-four team may have come at a cost, after five-eighth Luke Keary suffered suspected medial damage in his left knee early in the second half.
He went for scans during the match, but the Roosters are hanging onto a small chance he could be fit to play North Queensland on Saturday night.
Maligned for their attack over the first half of the season, the Roosters now look a far cry from the side that was even criticised by their own halves coach Andrew Johns the last time they played the Dragons on Anzac Day.
James Tedesco is firing around the ruck as he scored two tries on Sunday, while he and Cooper Cronk combined for another through the middle.
Meanwhile two of Mitchell's were all strength and power in a high-quality free-flowing game that had just 10 penalties.
The centre got the Roosters' first early when he pushed through three defenders on the left wing, and while his second came from a fumbled Cooper Cronk kick his last was from a similar effort.
"Every team at different stages of the year play their best footy," Dragons coach Paul McGregor said.
"I think the Roosters right now are pretty close to their best. And we weren't at our best today and we paid the price."
The Dragons only first-half points came when Ben Hunt stepped his way over from dummy-half on the last play before the break, while he and Tariq Sims later crossed for consolation tries.
The loss dropped them down to fourth, two points ahead of the chasing pack of Penrith, Cronulla and Brisbane.
"It's a bit deflating," McGregor said.
"The start of both halves weren't good enough. Individually we missed too many tackles."
