Wins in each of his three starts this season may not be enough for contract-less Newcastle halfback Ryan Stig to hang onto his spot in the NRL side, which downed St George Illawarra 14-10 at WIN Stadium on Sunday.

Stig created the Knights' two second half tries, throwing a superb cut-out ball for centre Keith Lulia's in the 56th minute and then doing it all himself six minutes later as the battered visitors made it three straight for the first time in 2011.

The 21-year-old has been there for all of the Knights' mini-revival, which has included wins over both 2010 grand finalists the Dragons and Sydney Roosters, but with Jarrod Mullen due back from injury and Kurt Gidley from NSW State of Origin duty, could find it hard to stay there.

Stig is hoping he has done enough.

"Three from three so I think I've done all I can do ... I'm hoping to keep my spot," he said.

"I'm really enjoying it, so once I got it I didn't really plan on giving it back. I just have to wait and see."

The young half, who has been biding his time for NSW Cup side Central Coast, couldn't have picked a better moment to show his wares.

Incoming Knights boss Wayne Bennett was looking on as Stig fights for a contract beyond 2011.

"Hopefully he's happy, we'll just have to see," Stig said.

"It plays on your mind, everyone wants a bit of security but hopefully we can get that sorted soon.

"My manager's overseas. He gets back this week so I'll be looking to talk to him soon and hopefully get something sorted."

The Dragons may have been missing six Origin representatives but their halves pairing of Ben Hornby and Nathan Fien boasted a massive 467 NRL games to Knights duo Stig and Tyrone Roberts' seven.

"He scored a crucial try and backed himself and it was good to see from Ryan and I'm really happy for him," Knights coach Rick Stone said.

But Stone said Mullen was likely to return from a pectoral muscle injury against North Queensland on Monday week.

The Knights lost hooker Isaac De Gois early to a medial ligament injury and were down to one fresh man on the bench when Lulia and prop Dan Tolar suffered concussion.

Dragons coach Bennett was fully aware his wasn't the only depleted side.

"They were as depleted as we were so it was just a scrappy game of footy, hard to watch and I assume it was hard to play in," he said.

The Dragons led 6-0 at halftime after the first of a double to veteran Reece Simmonds but the Knights levelled it up when concussed Lulia latched onto a superb ball from Stig.

The visitors were in again six minutes later when Stig did it all himself for a 12-6 lead, before Naiqama added a 68th minute penalty goal.

Simmonds' second four minutes later gave the Dragons hope of getting out of jail but they couldn't find the killer blow.

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