The NRL finals must be approaching ... Brisbane are firing and St George Illawarra are starting to stumble.

The Broncos continued their late season resurgence with David Taylor leading Brisbane to a shock 12-2 victory over the table-topping Dragons at WIN Stadium on Friday night in front of 17,044 fans.

The victory was Brisbane's third in a row to keep them entrenched in the top eight, while for the Dragons it was their first back-to-back losses of 2009, casting doubts over their ability to secure the minor premiership.

Brisbane looked dead and buried a month ago when they suffered their typical post Origin hangover, but they've bounced back to form when it mattered most and conjured an away win to end an eight-game losing streak against the Dragons.

After belting Penrith 58-24 in Brisbane last week, the Broncos came to Wollongong and did what no other team has in 2009 and held the Dragons tryless over 80 minutes.

The shutout means the Dragons have now gone 116 minutes without scoring a try, after surrendering a 12-0 lead in the 24-12 loss to Canberra last week.

While solid defence was the foundation of their win, it took some superb play by Taylor to get Brisbane the points.

The 21-year-old man mountain produced a stunning display to score one try, set up another and also execute a handy one-on-one strip as he floated between prop and centre.

Making Taylor's performance all the more remarkable, it was the first time he'd played the entire 80 minutes of an NRL game in his 44th appearance.

Taylor used brute strength to score the only try of a tough opening 40 minutes, twisting out of a Matt Prior and Wendell Sailor tackle in the 28th minute to slam the ball down with his right hand.

He struck again midway through the second half, attracting three defenders from a scrum before a one-handed offload to flying winger Antonio Winterstein to score in the corner for a 12-2 lead after 57 minutes.

It was a terrible night for the Dragons, both tries coming after Sailor and fellow winger Josh Morris fumbled Darren Lockyer bombs to gift Brisbane attacking possession.

The Dragons barely threatened the Broncos tryline, Jamie Soward twice touching down in the first half from his own kicks but correctly denied because teammates had knocked on trying to regather the ball before him.

Adding further concern for the Dragons, former Test centre Matt Cooper failed to finish the game.

Cooper has carried a painful heel injury for most of the year and was totally outplayed by Test centre Justin Hodges.

Broncos skipper Darren Lockyer said the victory over the Dragons was the type of performance that Brisbane could use as a springboard for a premiership bid.

"I think it improves our self belief," warned Lockyer.

"Coming here tonight I think there was a lot a nerves among the boys, including myself, but by the end of the game our self belief that we can do something in this competition has grown."

Coach Ivan Henjak described Taylor's performance as "pretty special", but he was most pleased with the defensive shutout, especially considering his side is ranked second worst in the NRL for tries conceded.

"Three weeks ago we were going hopeless and a lot of people were saying we were the worst defensive team and possibly the worst Brisbane team going around," Henjak said.

"Three weeks we have slowly been building.

"It was an important win for us. We are happy to get the two points and get out of here."

Dragons coach Wayne Bennett lamented his side's lack of cohesion in attack, but wasn't getting too worried about their recent dip in form.

"I would have preferred we played a bit better tonight, it's not life threatening yet," Bennett said.

"Our form is just a little bit down at the moment.

"There are 15 teams still below us ... with two weeks to go I would rather be in our position struggling a bit instead of in the middle of the field trying to make the finals."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP