St George Illawarra halfback Mathew Head made a welcome return from injury to lead the Dragons to a gutsy 32-18 NRL victory over the New Zealand Warriors at WIN Stadium.

Head, in his first game back from a four-week stint on the sidelines with an ankle injury, was at his scheming best as he got the Dragons back onto the winners' list following last weekend's loss to Melbourne with a six-tries-to-three victory over the visiting Warriors.

But the Dragons may have paid a high price for the win, with inspirational second rower Lance Thompson looking at an extended stint on the sidelines with a cracked rib, while second rower Corey Payne played little part in the game after copping a knee to the head early in the second half.

The Dragons started the stronger of the two sides, and it appeared a case of by how much when they ran up an 18-0 lead after 19 minutes, a spell Warriors coach Tony Kemp said decided the contest.

Winger Wes Naiqama first showed quick feet and then great strength to carry two defenders over the line with him in the fourth minute to open the scoring for the home side, while the Dragons' second to Mark Gasnier four minutes later was pure class.

Accepting the ball on his own 40 metre line, Gasnier stepped past Warriors front rower Richard Villasanti, before turning on the afterburners to blow past Brent Webb in a magnificent 60m run to go in under the posts, removing any threat that his place in the NSW side was in jeopardy.

Skipper Trent Barrett ended the early rampage when he went over next to the posts after Webb had failed to defuse a towering bomb from the NSW No.6.

"That's where the game was lost, in the first 20 minutes," Kemp said.

"Eighteen points down and we were battling back and right until the 70th minute we were still in it.

"I think we still used up too much fuel in the first 20, but I suppose the good thing about it is this team won't die any more, they stay in it right till the end."

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