St George Illawarra has exacted revenge for its humiliating loss to Newcastle seven weeks ago by returning the favour with a 38-12 hiding at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

When the teams last met in round five, the Knights prevailed 54-6 at WIN Stadium on the back of a dominant performance from champion halfback Andrew Johns.

But apart from a solo try from the Knights captain before halftime, the Dragons kept him well contained, with the kicking game of Trent Barrett and some classy touches from Mark Gasnier ensuring the result was emphatically reversed.

The result also drops Newcastle from top spot to third on for-and-against on the competition ladder.

In a further boost to the Dragons, workaholic prop Luke Bailey made a promising return from suspension and injury (knee/ribs) to give himself an outside chance of pushing for NSW selection for State of Origin II in Brisbane.

While blistering speed and dazzling footwork have been the hallmarks of the majority of Gasnier's 62 first grade tries, his 16th minute effort was probably the most bizarre of his career.

It involved three kicks - including an ugly cross-field effort by prop Bailey - which eventually ended up with Gasnier, who planted the ball down after balancing it on his knee.

The visitors surged further ahead nine minutes later when Payne scored the first of his two tries after a mistake from Knights winger Brian Carney.

The Dragons continued to run amok, racing to a 20-0 lead with two quick tries to Ben Hornby and then Payne. The first was a spectacular 68-metre effort made possible by a superb offload from Daryl Millard to interchange forward Michael Henderson.

Not to be outdone, centre partner Gasnier then produced a miracle flick pass to hand Payne his second try just two minutes later.

Johns gave the Knights a glimmer of hope with a converted try just before the break, but when interchange prop Danny Wicks scored with his first touch of the ball in the 51st minute, the contest was all but over.

On a rainy, miserable night for a crowd of 23,256 Novacastrians, the last straw was a 69th minute try awarded by video referee Chris Ward - Hornby's second - when he appeared to be well offside.

"How many 50/50 (decisions) have gone their way," fumed Johns to referee Tony Archer as the crowd booed the decision.

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