From what seemed like a premiership-challenging side, St George-Illawarra has done it again. From first place to sliding out of the eight, the Dragons have blown out too much smoke to inevitably choke on all the fumes. 

Not much was expected from the Saints at the beginning of the season. Many predictions had Paul McGregor's side battling for the spoon, but impressive performances had fans and pundits questioning themselves.

Now, after one win in five games, the season of hope, promise and a true underdog story is starting to fade away. At one stage the Dragons were looking like a top four side, but now they are in serious danger of missing out on finals footy all together.

Once heralded as the best forward pack in the competition, backed up by consistent and tremendous defensive efforts combined by the brilliance of Gareth Widdop leading his backline, the Dragons’ potential has evaporated like water drops in the air. 

Though it does seem like doom and gloom, there are still seven games left for St George to get their act together and cement a spot in the finals. They should count themselves lucky that five of the seven teams they have to face are outside of the top eight.

However, fans shouldn't get too optimistic, as their past seven games have been against teams who were heading into the round in the bottom half of the table: 2/7 is an embarrassing record and those two wins were against the cellar dwellers of the competition. Only a scrappy performance against the Wests Tigers and a come from behind win against the Newcastle Knights have prevented the Dragons from being on a winless run. 

In a competition where the draw means everything because teams don't play each other twice, the Dragons have been blessed by the footy gods, yet are absolutely throwing their season of promise away. 

Having experienced similar seasons over the past few years, Red V fans are just hoping for the Magic Dragon to stop choking on its own smoke when the season hits the home stretch. 

THE RUN HOME FOR THE SAINTS
Round 20: Sea Eagles (h)
Round 21: Knights (a)
Round 22: Rabbitohs (h)
Round 23: Titans (h)
Round 24: Broncos (a)
Round 25: Panthers (a)
Round 26: Bulldogs (h) 

(Header photo by Getty Images)