Melbourne inflicted another brutal blow to St George Illawarra's NRL premiership defence as they clawed their way to a 8-6 win at AAMI Park on Friday night.

The Dragons' free-fall down the NRL ladder continued, with their fifth successive loss while the Storm celebrated a club record 12th straight victory.

Clear competition leaders Melbourne now have the minor premiership all but wrapped up with only two rounds remaining.

The home side was forced to work hard for their win, taking that same score to the sheds at halftime after skipper Cameron Smith slotted a penalty goal after the hooter, with Dragons prop Michael Weyman penalised for slowing down the play the ball.

The Storm missed their maestro halfback Cooper Cronk, who was sidelined with a foot injury, while the Dragons were also without some attacking flair missing injured centre Mark Gasnier (hip) and Brett Morris, who didn't travel with the team after the birth of his baby girl.

Melbourne dominated possession and territory in the second half but the Dragons showed the desperation that has been sadly lacking in their recent games.

They held out set after set by the Storm, who threw everything at their visitors as they tried to find a second try, with fullback Billy Slater, playing his 200th NRL game, coming closest.

St George Illawarra had limited chances but also couldn't find a way through the Storm wall of defence.

The tries in the first half both came from wingers, Kyle Stanley, and then the Storm's Anthony Quinn.

Stanley was called into the fray in the 12th minute when winger Bronx Goodwin suffered a likely season-ending knee injury in his first match back from another knee injury, suffered in round nine.

Goodwin got his place in the starting side when Morris didn't travel.

He suffered the injury in a seemingly innocuous tackle from Storm lock Kevin Proctor, and was stretchered from the field in obvious pain.

Stanley's try came in the 19th minute when the Dragons caught the Storm short at the end of a sweeping backline move, although Darius Boyd's final pass to the winger appeared forward.

The Storm hit back in the 27th minute after Smith shaped to kick the ball but instead passed to Gareth Widdop, with Quinn reaping the rewards of the move.

Smith added the extras.

In the end the Dragons were left to rue the undisciplined play by five-eighth Jamie Soward, who was also penalised at the tackle just before Weyman, with those two points proving the difference.

St George Illawarra coach Wayne Bennett described his side's showing as an "excellent effort".

"I'm more than happy with the effort and the team that turned up tonight showed us what they can do," he said.

"I'm not beating myself up about the fact that we didn't get two points.

"You don't always have to win to get some satisfaction about what you do."

Skipper Ben Hornby said he felt his team could be a force in the looming NRL finals.

"On tonight's performance, yes," he said when asked whether they could make an impact.

"They're the benchmark in the comp at the moment, (winning) 12 in a row and we got beat by a penalty goal."

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said it was important for his team to mark Slater's milestone game with a win.

"I'm very happy with the win, especially it being a big occasion for Billy and the club," he said.

"It certainly wasn't a pretty win but at the same time I thought we defended really well.

"That first 20 minutes we were under at lot of pressure and I thought we handled that really well."

Bellamy said his team had earned the club record of 12 successive wins.

"The 12 means this side has done something no other Melbourne Storm side has done.

"If someone at the start of the year said that would happen you would have been sending them to the loony bin.

"It's been an incredible performance by this team but it's on the back of a lot of hard work."

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