St George Illawarra has heaped even more pressure on its under-fire coach Anthony Griffin by sinking to a fourth-straight loss in an 18-16 defeat to Canterbury in Wollongong.
Earlier, the Sydney Roosters completed the job across the Tasman with a 14-0 defeat of the Warriors.
In a nail-biting affair, the Dragons did not lead the match once but still looked the most likely team to finish on top in a tense final 20 minutes.
After they trailed 18-10 just before the hour mark, the match swung dramatically when Canterbury second rower Corey Waddell was sin-binned for a professional foul.
Making use of the extra number, Ben Hunt and Talatau Amone combined on the right edge before the latter put on a slick cut-out pass for Max Feagai to cross.
But from there, the Dragons failed to take their opportunities.
They enjoyed the bulk of the ball late in the match, but their afternoon was best summed up by a set with 10 minutes to go in which they barely moved the ball before a Hunt offload on the fourth tackle went to ground.
Hunt then attempted a two-point field goal in the final 20 seconds to try to level the scores, only for the shot to fall short and the Dragons' fate to be sealed.
Sunday's loss marked the fourth week in a row the Dragons have scored as many or more tries than their opposition, but still tasted defeat.
St George Illawarra's board is due to meet again next month, with the off-contract Griffin's future is certain to be on the agenda.
This loss to a Bulldogs side coming off three straight defeats of their own was the last thing Griffin needed.
After two years out of the finals under the embattled coach, the Dragons are now 15th with two wins from eight matches.
They have the last-placed Wests Tigers next Sunday at Magic Round, and a defeat there could spell disastrous news for Griffin.
For Canterbury, Jake Averillo was the star while Matt Burton and Josh Reynolds impressed in the first half as they regularly broke the Dragons' defences through the middle.
Averillo scored two long-range tries from well within his own end, burning Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan on both occasions after being put into space by Braidon Burns.
The second of those tries proved crucial, giving the Bulldogs a big enough buffer after Hunt had put the Dragons level at 10-10 early in the second half by sending Toby Couchman over.
But as is so often the case, Hunt could notcarry the Dragons entirely on his own back, and the Dragons' season is now at risk of completely slipping away.
Roosters outlast Warriors
The Sydney Roosters shut out the Warriors in a hard-fought win at a rain-lashed Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland.
But rumblings of refereeing inconsistencies against the Warriors are not going anywhere after a crucial try by Sitili Tupouniua came after the interchange forward looked to have committed an unpunished shoulder charge in the previous set.
It would have been cold comfort for the 20,000-strong crowd that the try was set up and scored by two players who grew up in Auckland, with Roosters hooker Brandon Smith putting a perfect kick along the slippery deck for Tupouniua to dive on under the posts in the 59th minute.
Rugby union-bound Joseph Suaalii added the simple conversion to extend the lead that the Roosters were always going to be too good to give up.
Before that, the Roosters were simply committed to grinding the home side out of the match with a no-nonsense approach to wet weather football.
It was not perfect as their completion rate dipped below 75 per cent and they were on the wrong side of the possession stakes, but intelligent kicking by Luke Keary, makeshift five eighth Joseph Manu and Smith saw the Warriors constantly pinned in their own half.
And it was the Roosters' defence that won them the match, making just under 400 tackles and frustrating the in-form Warriors into handling errors at key points.
There should have been a Warriors try in the first half after a Shaun Johnson kick bounced into Adam Pompey's hands, but the centre could not hold on to the ball with the line open.
Johnson was guilty of making an error off a goal-line restart for the second match in a row, handing Sualii an easy penalty to open the scoring in the fourth minute.
From there the contest turned into an arm wrestle in the consistently heavy rain before Nat Butcher muscled over for the Roosters six minutes before the break to make the score 8-0.
It is the second time the Roosters have beaten the Warriors this season after a 20-12 win in Sydney back in round two.
AAP/ABC
