The St George Illawarra Dragons recorded their first victory of the season, toppling the Brisbane Broncos in front of their home faithful in a shock 30-26 win. 

It snaps a 15-game losing streak that spans back to last year and has breathed life back into the joint venture.

The Red V came to play and were ready from the starting whistle, with Valentine Homes winding back the clock with a classy performance that earned him player of the match honours.

Broncos coach Michael Maguire hinted that his team may have taken the Dragons lightly heading into the match, and were blown off the park for most of the game before a few consolation tries by the Broncos made the scoreline respectable.

"The way that the game panned out, well, that's definitely how it looked, wasn't it?" Maguire replied to a question on whether the Red V was taken lightly on Sunday.

"The commitment in areas of our game that we hold pretty high, we didn't hit the mark today.

"Obviously that's something there that we as a group, myself, everyone, need to find out really quickly."

Despite a horror injury toll in 2026, the Broncos have lost their past four games, putting their title defence run in poor shape and increasing their likelihood of missing the finals.

"There is a talented team there and we all know that," Maguire added.

"So my role now with the senior leaders and everyone involved [is] to find it."

Maguire left the coaches' box to take a spot down on the sideline during the second half to get closer to the action while the Red V was piling on the points. 

"I haven't done that very often in my career, but I just felt for whatever reason we were flat, and I wanted to get down and get the feeling of what was going on there, so obviously I can feel what's going on with the team," he said.

"I spend a lot of time standing in the middle of the park at training and you get to feel what the players are doing.

"So look, that might be something that I'll have a look at."

Maguire revealed that despite coming up short in their comeback during the final 15 minutes, the side missed the jump in the opening, which saw the Dragons skip out to a 14-0 start in the 21st minute.

"You can sort of see the players were fighting towards the end, but at the end of the day you've got to do that at the start of the game. So that's the most important part."

The Broncos will regroup and host their south-east neighbour in the Gold Coast Titans, on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Dragons will take part in their local derby against the Cronulla Sharks in the Shire on Sunday.