The Wests Tigers are all but assured of finishing the 2022 season with their first wooden spoon after falling to a last-minute 24-22 defeat to St George Illawarra.
With fellow spoon contenders the Gold Coast beating Newcastle in Sunday's later game to move a win clear of the bottom-placed Tigers, the joint-venture club were left praying for a Leichhardt Oval miracle next weekend.
Wests must beat eighth-placed Canberra at home to have a mathematical chance of avoiding last place.
But they must also hope the Titans lose to the Warriors in Auckland, with both matches lopsided enough for Wests to erase the Gold Coast's 75-point superior for-and-against record.
Since Michael Maguire's sacking, the Tigers have won just one game. Furthermore, 17 players who have played for them this season were unavailable to interim coach Brett Kimmorley on Sunday at CommBank Stadium.
"I thought we did enough to win today which would have changed that (finishing with the spoon)," Kimmorley said.
"We'll work hard during the week and stay connected.
"It's our last game (of the season) at Leichhardt. The dreaded wooden spoon isn't hopefully something I'll be focusing on."
The Tigers had the chance to secure just their fifth win of the year when they led 22-16 with five minutes to go on Sunday in an impressive response from last week's club record defeat to the Roosters.
But as has often been the case this season they were architects of their own downfall.
Dragons forward Jackson Ford went over untouched, with Zac Lomax adding the conversion to tie the game up late on.
Then, as he attacked down the right Lomax was hit by an Asu Kepaoa shoulder charge.
Kepaoa was sinbinned and Lomax slotted the penalty goal with ease.
It should have been a lot more straightforward for the Tigers, especially considering the Dragons lost Jack Bird and Cody Ramsey to the sinbin after their teammate Jaydn Su'A had opened the scoring.
Rookie Tom Freebairn grabbed a double and Fa'amanu Brown scored to put the Tigers in the box seat before half-time.
The Dragons found their way back into the game with tries to Tatau Moga and Lomax, only for a weaving run from Jock Madden to put the Tigers ahead.
Then an error from Tigers rookie Junior Pauga - making a play at a Dragons dropout that wasn't going the requisite 10 metres - gave the Red V a piggyback.
The Dragons went up the other end with Ford on hand to waltz over.
"It's a big learning curve (for Pauga)," Kimmorley said. "We could've been up by eight with seven minutes to go. We need to know the rules.
"He's ok, it's a tough lesson for him to learn.
"We were poor in the second half and beat ourselves, giving them opportunities to win the game."
Lomax added the conversion, before the vital penalty for the Dragons' second win in six games.
"I was really happy with our second half and the way we grabbed onto the game and got there in the end," said Dragons coach Anthony Griffin.
"The other side played with a lot of energy and they got two tries in front of us. The boys just kept coming and we did enough in the end and they worked for what they got.
"Next week (against Brisbane) is about finishing with a standard we're happy with."
