It was after St George Illawarra's win over the Wests Tigers back in May that Wayne Bennett had a message for old sparring partner Tim Sheens.

It's one Bennett is undoubtedly hoping can be reciprocated at fulltime in Friday night's NRL blockbuster at the Sydney Football Stadium.

"Wayne made the comment to me ... he said 'they had a go for you today'," Sheens told reporters on Thursday.

"(That) was fair enough, I think that's probably a fair way of putting it."

The Tigers had staged a comeback at WIN Jubilee Oval before going down 24-18, the Dragons notching a club record ninth straight win.

They'd been down 20-6 at halftime, coincidentally the same score by which the Dragons led South Sydney last Sunday before crashing 34-24.

That loss and one to Canberra the week before - after also leading early - caused Bennett to question his players' desire to back up last year's breakthrough premiership win.

Tigers captain Robbie Farah described the comments as "smart", saying they would have touched a raw nerve with the Dragons players.

"As a footy player, any time that your attitude gets questioned, or your desire, you take that personally," Farah said.

"So I think those comments would have hit the mark, definitely."

Sheens, with four titles, is second only to seven-time premiership winning mentor Bennett and the Tigers boss said high-flying sides could struggle mentally in the final month of the regular season.

"The tough thing is to keep winning when you know you're already in the semis," Sheens said.

"Players tend to be wanting to get that 'let's get into the semi-finals' attitude and the last month of footy's tough."

But if Bennett's stinging criticism, which included a suggestion that only the players could fix the problem, was a motivational ploy, the Dragons are denying it.

Backrower Beau Scott claimed to have not even heard the comments or discussed them with his team-mates.

"I didn't hear it to tell the truth," he said on Thursday.

"I don't read too much in the media side of things so I can't really comment on it."

The Dragons have lost five of their past seven games to drop out of the top four, while the Tigers won a third straight match for the first time this year with last week's 14-12 win over second-placed Manly.

The combination of the Dragons' desperation and the Tigers' form has officials predicting a crowd of more than 35,000 at a game that was originally slated for the SCG on Sunday before television scheduling forced it to be moved.

"A big crowd will bring out the best in anyone," Sheens said. "Both teams will have plenty to play for.

"Those sort of games sometimes aren't like having a home crowd either, it's going to be just a large noise."

The eighth-placed Tigers, who have a four-point buffer on the ladder to the chasing pack, would need to crash badly in the final month of the regular season to miss the finals.

"It's not a matter of a game for us this week being a defining game, it's the next five weeks that is important for us," Sheens said.

"It's a five-week program for us, not a one-week program."

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