There were plenty of people who doubted Jamie Soward would ever make it to 100 NRL games, not least the St George Illawarra playmaker himself.

Not one to dwell too much on what has been an up-and-down past, Soward on Tuesday allowed himself the opportunity to reflect on his "dream run", which has him poised to reach three figures against Brisbane on Sunday.

Seemingly banished to the NRL scrapheap at just 22 after three ineffective years at the Sydney Roosters, the chances of Soward making it beyond 25 games were remote.

A pointscoring freak in the junior ranks, Soward's slight frame and opportunistic style of play made him an easy target for critics and coaches alike and his 2007 mid-season move to the Dragons was very much a last throw of the dice in a career that had promised so much.

A winning start endeared him to the Dragons faithful but after missing just one of his first 34 games with the club, Soward again inexplicably found himself on the outer as the red and whites powered towards the 2008 finals, with then-coach Nathan Brown opting for Ben Rogers in the halves.

His confidence shot, Soward could have gone two ways but along came Wayne Bennett to coach the club in 2009.

Bennett put his faith in the five-eighth and the two have been inseparable since with Soward appearing in all of Bennett's 44 games with the joint venture.

"I guess it's been a bit of a dream run to get that many games under the belt and obviously last year playing 26 rounds was a help to get that number," Soward said of his milestone.

"It's a good achievement especially in today's game with the 20s competition and blokes on the fringe always looking for a shot - I didn't think I'd get to 100 but I'm very happy to be there.

"When I'd left the Roosters I'd only played (22) games in three years which is a bit disappointing, but since I've come here I haven't missed too many."

Preferring to focus on the future, Soward knows someone who is going to play a big role in that is team-mate Mark Gasnier.

The pair operate together down the right side of the Dragons attack and Soward has been profoundly affected by the prodigal son's return to the club.

The 26-year-old is adamant he doesn't have to alter his game too much to accommodate the former Test star, claiming it is more a case of Gasnier adapting to what the rest of the side is doing.

"It's more about Gaz fitting in with us - we've had a structure here for the last couple of years and it's obviously working," Soward said.

"Mark knows that he needs to come back in and find his feet and it's not going to happen for him just like that.

"He's slowly getting there and getting more ball ... but it's not a focus for us to get Mark the ball because he's a quality player and he'll find it himself."

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