St George Illawarra have held on for one of the gutsiest victories of the season, denying a resurgent Parramatta to win 34-20 despite having no fit players left on the bench.
In a true game of two halves in Wollongong, the Dragons produced their best 40 minutes of the year to lead 26-4 at halftime on Saturday.
But the match swung suddenly after the break, as the Eels got back within six points with 21 minutes to play and appeared certain to run the hosts down.
All the while Dragons players were succumbing to injuries, with Luciano Leilua (quad), Hamish Stewart (concussion), Toby Couchman (shoulder) and Viliame Fifita (knee) all sidelined.
Hooker Damien Cook appeared to be struggling but had to remain on the field, while Jaydn Su'A also had a scare on return from his ankle injury.
But somehow the Dragons held on, with the key moment coming with five minutes to play when Eels second-rower Kelma Tuilagi burst down field.
Jacob Liddle rushed back to pull him down from behind, and, while Tuilagi got the ball away, a Zac Lomax offload went to ground and Valentine Holmes picked it up and sprinted 60 metres to score.
A late penalty goal then iced the match, with only for-and-against keeping the Dragons out of the top eight after their sixth win of the season.
St George Illawarra's gutsy second half came after they looked dangerous with almost every touch in the first.
Following a fortnight of criticism around their halves and calls for change, Lyhkan King-Togia and Kyle Flanagan were both great.
David Klemmer had a monster opening stint, Cook was dangerous out of dummy-half and Holmes had one of his best games of the season, bagging a double.
Winger Nathan Lawson also scored a double, after only being told just before kick off he was playing when Christian Tuipulotu's hamstring failed him in the warm up.
The emotion in Flanagan was also clear, after his father Shane had labelled criticism of him as "just ridiculous" in the moments before the game.
The halfback dug into the line in the lead up to a Corey Allan try, before going over himself moments later.
After he dummied and got outside Dylan Brown to score, the halfback got up and passionately beat the Dragons crest on his chest in celebration.
King-Togia was just as good.
Two of the Dragons' tries came from his well-placed kicks, while he regularly poked his nose through the line amid his six runs.
But at halftime, it was as if the two sides swapped jerseys.
Lomax scored first before Dean Hawkins followed, and when Tuilagi chased through on a spilled kick an Eels comeback win looked almost inevitable.
Parramatta thought they could level the scores with 17 minutes to go, only for the touch judge to rule Josh Addo-Carr's boot brushed the sideline in the lead up to what would have been a Sean Russell try.