Forward Sam Thaiday has dismissed concerns Brisbane are battling an attitude problem a month out from the NRL finals.

But he admits they need to quickly find some aggression after again failing to finish the job against St George Illawarra, who they led 12-0 before losing 24-20.

Coach Wayne Bennett slammed his players' lack of ruthlessness and admitted they could not win the premiership without a change in that area.

Thaiday said Brisbane had their foot on the Dragons' throat in Friday night's game but did not go on with the job.

"Wayne (Bennett) told us after the game we lacked a bit of aggression and we let them back into the game," said Thaiday.

"We could have taken the game right away from them, but we didn't."

Brisbane are banking heavily on returns by Justin Hodges, Karmichael Hunt and defensive intimidator Tonie Carroll to provide some starch, especially to their right side defence which was exposed again by Dragons centres Matt Cooper and Mark Gasnier helping themselves to three second half tries.

There's no doubt Hodges makes a big difference and that having him on the sidelines suspended for eight of Brisbane's last 10 games has hurt the Broncos considerably.

They miss his aggression, his ability to spark their attack and his valuable work out of dummy half.

Carroll may be in the twilight of his career but just his presence in the defensive line makes a difference to how sides attack Brisbane.

"It's hard, we miss K (Hunt) and Hodgo (Hodges), they do so much work around the football," said Thaiday.

"We really did miss those blokes but we can't make excuses like that, we still had a great side out on the paddock.

"The attitude is good, everyone wants to win.

"Every now and then some people switch off.

"I'm not sure why it happens but, whatever it is, we just need to get it right in time for the finals."

Brisbane's loss robbed captain Darren Lockyer of a memorable 298th first grade game, which broke former teammate Michael Hancock's club record on a night former Broncos favourite Wendell Sailor returned to Suncorp Stadium for the Dragons.

Lockyer was philosophical, saying he wanted his close friend Sailor to play well.

"But I didn't want him to win," said Lockyer.

Lockyer said he was proud of the milestone and hopes to play many more games for the Broncos.

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