The Dragons' Jersey Flegg finals hopes were dealt a blow on Saturday going down to the Bulldogs 32-22 at Collegians.
The Red V managed to claw their way back into the contest following a less-than-ideal opening stanza only for their comeback to fall short of the second-place Bulldogs.
Kyan Hjaltason had a hand in back-to-back second half tries to bring the hosts back within a single score after they trailed by as many as 16.
Match: Dragons v Bulldogs
Round 23 -
home Team
Dragons
7th Position
away Team
Bulldogs
2nd Position
Venue: Collegians Sporting Complex, Wollongong
The encounter got off to a dream start for the Red V with Jesse Williams pouncing on a Bulldogs drop and racing away untouched from 30 metres out to open the scoring.
The visitors answered moments later via winger Jonathan Sua who was on the end of a fifth tackle shift that stripped the Dragons for numbers to make it 6-6.
Williams was held up over the line soon after off a Nick Quinn cut-out with Hayden Buchanan denied several plays later after officials ruled a mid-air knock-on.
Jordi Mazzone came up with the Bulldogs’ second moments later to earn them their first lead before Fanafou Seve crashed over to make it 16-6 the way of the visitors.
Williams was again denied off another looping Quinn cut-out with the winger bundled into touch in an athletic grounding attempt.
A courageous Rumble try-saver was not enough to prevent the Bulldogs from adding to their lead with skipper Mitchell Smith crossing down the short-side the following play as the visiting side took a 22-6 lead into half-time.
The Dragons came up with an answer on the other side of the break with a Hjaltason grubber out of dummy-half ricocheting off the right upright padding and into the arms of Isaac Laughton.
A high tackle call handed the Bulldogs an opportunity to increase their lead back to a dozen thanks to a penalty goal.
Hjaltason again injected himself into the contest soon after taking in a Jett Liu offload and ducking his way over next to the sticks with Ashton Ward adding the extras to cut the deficit back to six with a quarter of the match to play.
The hosts nearly claimed another the next set after Buchanan toed through a high ball that had been allowed to bounce only for Quinn’s grounding attempt to come up short.
A penalty off a short dropout gifted the Bulldogs another two points as their lead improved back beyond a converted try.
The Bulldogs sealed it in the final stages with Lajuan Vito muscling his way over to make it 32-18.
Quinn grabbed a consolation four-pointer for the hosts in the final minute after Rumble sent Williams streaking down the left touchline with the No.6 rewarded for his support play on the inside.
