St George Illawarra skipper Ben Hornby knows the time for excuses is over, with Sunday's meeting against the Warriors to determine whether the NRL premiers are pretenders or contenders for this year's title.

The Dragons go into the WIN Stadium clash against the surging Warriors on the back of a five-match losing streak, but there was enough in the last-start loss to Melbourne to suggest their faltering campaign could be salvaged.

With a bit of confidence under their belt and star backs Mark Gasnier and Brett Morris back on deck, Hornby said it was now or never for his troops.

A win would keep the Dragons in the hunt for a top-four finish and a guaranteed Sydney game in the first week of the finals, but a loss would likely consign the Dragons to seventh and the prospect of four weeks of sudden-death football.

"All that's out of our hands," Hornby said of the prospect of a top-four finish.

"We've just got to try and win the next two games and, wherever we finish, we do our best from there.

"It's just about getting some good form into the finals.

"We're obviously back at full strength and back at home so there's no reason why we can't play well."

The Warriors have won six of their past seven games and a home final is theirs to lose after they jumped up to fourth on the back of last week's win over Penrith.

They haven't won in Wollongong in 15 years, but departing utility Lance Hohaia says the key to breaking the drought will be a team effort rather than a reliance on one or two standout performances.

"We need to perform consistently well for 80 minutes, and we probably haven't done that for the past few weeks," Hohaia told NZPA.

"Even though we've been playing well, we've got out of jail a few times with some individual brilliance.

"If we can play really well for 80 minutes and stick to our game plan, then I can't see any reason we can't get the two points."

The two individuals who have set the competition alight have been rookie halfback Shaun Johnson and young fullback Kevin Locke, who both scored long-range tries against the Panthers.

Hohaia said he "couldn't see much wrong" with the Dragons' form against the Storm, with the Warriors wary of copping the backlash of weeks of negative press.

"They've had a few guys play Origin this year, and that affects your cohesion a little bit, and they've had a few injuries," he said.

"That's all it takes. The competition is so tight, you only have to be off your game a little bit or have a couple of your key players out."

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