St George Illawarra coach Wayne Bennett lauded his injury-hit squad's toughness but it was Warriors counterpart Ivan Cleary who looked most in need of medical treatment after the Dragons' thrilling 12-11 NRL win in Wollongong on Sunday.

Cleary delivered barely audible responses in the post-match press conference, the Warriors mentor livid at the performances of some of his players who he claimed had Friday's Australia v New Zealand Test on their minds.

The Warriors played as if their thoughts were elsewhere with costly dropped balls and poorly timed penalties handing victory to a Dragons side which refused to give up.

The final penalty proved the most telling with Warriors captain Steve Price infringing in the ruck, the Dragons launching their umpteenth raid down the left edge and Ben Creagh powering through three defenders for the match-winner.

Veteran Stacey Jones attempted to send the game to golden point as he shaped for a late field goal - but just as happened in last week's draw with Melbourne - the champion halfback's hands let him down and he fumbled the ball.

The Dragons only got their opportunity after Jerome Ropati blew a golden opportunity to ice the game 13 minutes from time.

Ropati dropped the ball cold with the line wide open just moments after he had beaten four defenders and the corner post to give the visitors an 11-8 lead.

"He was well off his game today," Cleary said of Ropati.

"We've (always) had a lot of trouble in this game leading up to the Anzac Test and it's happened again this week ... there were some guys off their game today.

"The comp's hard enough as it is without throwing points away."

While admitting his side may have paid the price for coming off back to back extra-time games, Cleary added "it shouldn't mean you just drop balls with the line wide open or drop balls in the play the ball on a perfect sunny Sunday afternoon."

The Dragons did it the hard way with Jeremy Smith (ankle), Matt Cooper (hip), Jamie Soward (hip) and Jarrod Saffy (sternum) all cut down by injury through the game.

Smith failed to return with an injury which is likely to see the Kiwi Test forward miss Friday night's clash with the Kanagaroos at Suncorp Stadium, while Cooper and Soward both returned with the aid of painkillers.

"They just had to show a bit more courage today," Bennett said.

"We had a lot of injuries, a lot of guys wouldn't have been there in normal circumstances but they just got tough, stayed in and didn't quit."

The early stages were marred by a healthy penalty count as the two referees kept a close on the ruck, the 2-2 scoreline by the half hour more reminiscent of the round ball game.

A trademark Price chargedown finally broke the game open, Simon Mannering picking up the crumbs before being mowed down by Brett Morris from the opposite side of the field.

Morris' trysaver left the right edge exposed and the Warriors took advantage with Patrick Ah Van going over, Jones' late field goal giving the Warriors an unusual 7-2 lead at the break.

The Dragons finally broke through when Morris picked up a bouncing ball to dance over out wide, but it was a lead that lasted only three minutes before Ropati crashed over.

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