They may not be a complete team just yet but statistics prove that St George Illawarra are the completion kings.

The competition favourites have taken their ball domination to new heights in the opening two rounds of the 2010 NRL season, currently operating at a staggering 94 per cent, completing 73 of their 78 sets in 160 minutes of football.

Last year the Dragons completed 787 of 1008 sets at 78 per cent - the best in the NRL.

They've already put top sides Parramatta and the Bulldogs to the sword on the back of their ball control, and will be looking to continue the winning formula against North Queensland on Friday night at WIN Stadium.

A trademark of six-time premiership winning coach Wayne Bennett, ball retention has been paramount in changing the Dragons from a side that struggled to win tight games to one that rarely loses them.

This season he's hoping it will serve them even better than in 2009 when they slipped out of the finals race with consecutive losses after finishing minor premiers.

"It held up nearly all season last year until we lost a bit of form late last year when the players got tired," said Bennett, who believes his players know and understand him better now.

"Last year they just got tired and we didn't pick it up.

"We got weary at the wrong end of the footy season and as a result our performances suffered but the effort was still there."

In his first year Bennett has changed the Dragons' soft underbelly and has instilled a self belief in players like five eighth Jamie Soward and backrower Ben Creagh.

But the Dragons will have to do more than just hang on to the football when they play the free-running Cowboys, who Bennet rates as having amongst the best attacks in the game.

Marshalled by Johnathan Thurston, Bennett knows his class can put pressure on any defence, just as he did against Brisbane in round one when he orchestrated a stunning Cowboys' comeback which fell just short.

"He plays with so much energy, it's amazing what he can do every week," Bennett said of the Dragons' major threat.

"He keeps backing it up. He's not a big guy, he's not frightened to take a big tackle or frightened to take the ball to the line.

"He's a great example of what a really good competitor is all about.

"I'm expecting him to play the way he did against Brisbane."

The Dragons though have their own match-winners, including try-hungry winger Brett Morris who helped himself to a hat-trick last weekend against the Bulldogs.

The Cowboys have struggled to handle the gangly Morris who scored five tries in two games against them last season.

"He's a genuine winger, a class winger and he's here to stay, that's his position," Bennett said.

"You don't see them in the game very much, Manu Vatuvei is one, so is Brett, probably the only few in the NRL I would regard as true wingers, great finishers who only need a half a metre to get the job done.

"We've tried to manufacture a lot of them, like a lot of positions in our game, but it's still a specialist position.

"That's his calling is to be a winger and he does it great."

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