St George Illawarra snatched a miracle 18-16 win from Brisbane with a converted try in the final minute of their NRL clash at Suncorp Stadium.

Dragons winger Brett Morris climbed high in the left hand corner to drag down a clever Mathew Head banana kick before replacement Aaron Gorrell kicked the match winner from the sideline to stun the big crowd of 32,914.

The victory was almost identical to the Dragons' last gasp win in 2003 when Mark Riddell kicked a sideline conversion for a 26-25 win.

Head was all set to take the pressure shot when Gorrell came up and took the ball off him.

As Head walked back to his teammates, Gorrell's kick shaved the right-hand upright.

Referee Tony Archer found himself at the centre of three controversial calls.

The first was when Dragons centre Matt Cooper scored in the 16th minute off a pass from second-rower Ben Creagh which appeared to float at least one metre forward.

Archer upset the Dragons when he gifted Brisbane two points for penalising fullback Clint Greenshields for getting up after he had called "held".

In the 71st minute he called a knock on against Brisbane forward Brad Thorn before reversing his decision and awarding Brisbane a raking penalty which Lockyer converted for a 16-12 lead.

Morris' try finished an amazing game.

The clash was riddled by errors but the pace and intensity of the battle kept the huge crowd on the edge of their seats for the 80 minutes.

Brisbane drew first blood when Queensland Origin teammates Darren Lockyer and fullback Karmichael Hunt combined on the left side for Shaun Berrigan, switched from hooker to centre, to dive over Ben Hornby's desperate tackle.

With regular kicker Corey Parker (bruised back) rested, Lockyer stepped up and landed a difficult conversion to give the Broncos an early 6-0 lead.

Lockyer slotted a short range penalty a few minutes later after Brisbane forward David Stagg was hit high by Dean Young.

With Brisbane threatening to take control of the game the Dragons hit back through Cooper's suspect try.

Halfback Mathew Head landed a tough conversion, cutting Brisbane's lead back to 8-6.

There was absolutely no doubt about the Dragons' next try five minutes later after some brilliant passing between Young, Sam Icemonger and Mark Gasnier whose final pass to winger Colin Best was a beauty.

Brisbane fullback Karmichael Hunt was deceived by Best's change of pace in the race to the try line and when Head converted it gave the Dragons a 12-8 halftime lead.

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