St George Illawarra coach Wayne Bennett admits he has no idea whether the NRL premiers can regroup to mount a title defence ahead of their showdown with ladder leaders Melbourne.

The Dragons head to the Victorian capital on Friday night with their campaign teetering on collapse, a fourth straight loss - the latest to the dysfunctional Sydney Roosters on Sunday - leaving their hopes in freefall.

But it wasn't the fact the Dragons have won just two of their past ten that has Bennett most worried, rather the meek manner in which they succumbed to a side they were expected to towel up to reinvigorate their championship challenge.

"I've gone past concerned I think," Bennett admitted.

Asked where he was, Bennett replied: "Somewhere in that state of 'got no idea.'"

The four-game losing run is the worst in Bennett's soon-to-finish three-year stint at the club.

Was he confident the club could turn it around?

"No. We just can't get ourselves up here at all at the moment - it's a huge issue for us. It's our problem.

"I can't turn it around, only the guys on the footy field can turn it around. Coaches coach, players play - there's a huge difference.

"We certainly played a lot better last week, a good week's preparation, no real obvious reasons as to why we didn't play well, a full team out there except Mark Gasnier - I don't have an answer."

Skipper Ben Hornby struggled to put a finger on the problem.

Attack, defence, commitment, enthusiasm - you name it, the Dragons lack it.

"It's not (clicking), it's tough at the moment," Hornby said.

"Other sides are probably smelling a bit of blood in the water and we can't stop it."

That's a major worry ahead of a meeting with the Storm, who won an 11th straight game with a 40-16 thrashing of last-placed Gold Coast on Saturday night.

They will be without Cooper Cronk on Friday night due to an ankle injury, but the way the Dragons are going, they would need Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and three or four others to join him on the sidelines to be any chance of pulling off an upset.

So bad is their current slide that it is mathematically possible that they could miss the finals altogether, with fast-finishing South Sydney on a stunning roll as evidenced by their 47-18 annihilation of Canberra on Sunday.

Should the Dragons lose their remaining three games - a distinct possibility considering they take on the Warriors and Penrith after their date with the Storm - and the Rabbitohs win all of theirs, Souths could finish the season on 30 competition points, one above the red and whites.

Canterbury will be in the same situation if they can overcome Cronulla on Monday night, while those at the bottom of the top eight - Warriors (sixth, 28 points), the red-hot Wests Tigers (7th, 28 points) and Newcastle (8th, 26 points) are all in better form than the Dragons.

It's understandable then why Bennett had given up thinking about a home final, despite the Dragons finishing the weekend in fifth place - just one point behind North Queensland.

"We're not even at that stage of thinking about that," Bennett said of a top four finish.

"If we can't do that (find form), it wouldn't matter if we were home, away or what."

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