Picture this.
Your team is up two points after working their way back into a game before halftime, and to boot, holding a man advantage with an opposition player in the sin bin for a frankly, poor decision on a hip drop tackle.
There are 85 seconds remaining in the first half when Brandon Smith goes from dummy half, taking both the markers the wrong way and then running into space on the short side left open by a backpedalling and slow line.
He hands it away to Alex Johnston with an easy chest pass who bolts around a ridiculously position and out form Valentine Holmes.
The NRL's greatest try-scorer then bolts away from the cover defence, dots down in the corner and you're left wondering how on Earth your team just conceded a try down the short side from mid to long range with a man advantage.
Welcome to life as a Dragons supporter, where bewilderment happens about as much as you smile in 2026, and the play described sums up the season to date.
It certainly summed up Saturday evening, where the Rabbitohs, who didn't play well, ran out convincing winners and racked up 30 points.
It's the fourth time in five games the Dragons have conceded north of 30 points against a side who didn't really nail all their marks.
There was almost a sense of calmness among fans heading into Saturday evening's game against the South Sydney Rabbitohs after the club's refusal to make change during the week.
Like the result wasn't up for grabs, only the scoreline, like you knew Latrell Mitchell was going to be the best on ground, and like you knew Matt Dufty was going to find a way to be a terror and score at some point.
The Dragons are just that much of a rabble right now, and as they slumped to zero and seven on Saturday evening in front of a (take it from me, I was there) crowd predominantly wearing Rabbitohs colours, the questions left behind are serious.
Because it's not just the playing group who are performing badly on the day. Far from it.
Shane Flanagan, by all accounts, has not lost the dressing room, and who could argue that? Which player performing like the Dragons currently are but not being dropped is going to hate their coach?
Statistically, it's obvious.
On Saturday evening, only Setu Tu and David Fale cracked the 100-metre barrier out of the back five, although they had issues of their own. Compare that to South Sydney where the lowest total recorded was Jack Wighton's 131 metres in the back five, and Matthew Dufty came up with a staggering 324 metres.
Yeah, the same Matt Dufty deemed not good enough by the Dragons about five years ago, while the Red V struggle enormously in the fullback department today.
Kyle Flanagan and Daniel Atkinson, seemingly now untouchable in the halves, are overseeing an attack which is averaging just a tick over 16 points per game despite being among the league leaders in metres gained on the back of young forwards like Toby Couchman and Hamish Stewart.
Emre Guler, who barely made more metres in his last three starts than Loko Pasifiki Tonga did in his last NSW Cup games coming into Saturday, managed just 24 metres from 4 carries across 45 minutes on the park.
I don't want to live on the planet where that is acceptable for a starting front-rower.
Blake Lawrie, once viewed (and rightly so) as player 30 of 30 in Flanagan's squad, had more impact with 8 runs returning 60 metres in just 24 minutes.
Pasifiki Tonga himself, finally afforded some first-grade minutes, had the same minuites as Lawrie - half of Guler's - but managed more post-contact metres (27) than Guler did total (24) out of his 8 runs for 70 metres.
On the evidence, it's fairly clear change is needed.
But when Shane Flanagan, who seems to be spending more time with his head in the sand than actually coaching, comes out last week and suggests he has no players below the current 17 to pick from, you could forgive Dragons' fans, and those players, for scratching their heads.
You can also forgive Pasifiki Tonga, a former under-19 Origin player and clearly a future Origin player player in waiting, for wanting out if he can't get minutes ahead of Emre Guler who has now made less than 300 metres in his last four starts.
Before moving away from the forwards, it also needs to be noted that Josh Kerr's 2026 downfall is going to be the stuff of science studies. One of the Dolphins' most impactful last season, he has been barely in the Dragons' 19 so far this year, and maybe with good reason given his 3 runs for 25 metres on Saturday evening despite spending more minutes on the park than Pasifiki Tonga and Hame Sele.
Then there is the ongoing defensive issues on the Dragons' edges.
They look lost, frankly. Valentine Holmes is the leader of the lost brigade too and must be on the verge of losing his State of Origin spot if form alone is considered.
He missed a staggering ten tackles on Saturday evening, taking his season tally to 35 in seven games - 5 per contest.
In attack, he is no better. Supposed to be one of the club's strike weapons, he has had all the strength of a wet lettuce leaf with the ball in hand so far this year.
In seven games, he has had just 11 tackle breaks. Latrell Mitchell had that many on his own during Saturday's game.
And then there is the halves.
As mentioned, Flanagan and Atkinson, who remember was brought to the club by Flanagan this year as the new halfback, are averaging just 16 points per game as a combination, and it would be of little surprise to anyone to know the Dragons are the worst attacking team in the competition right now to the point they are still yet to crack the 100-point barrier for the year.
But then, Flanagan senior has suggested two weeks in a row when quizzed that Kyle Flanagan is the best halfback at the club.
Intriguingly, the club's "best halfback" had just two kicks of the footy on Saturday for 49 metres. Daniel Atkinson kicked it 16 times for 600 metres. Make that one make sense.
Even if Flanagan being the best halfback really is the case, then why did Daniel Atkinson start the year at halfback?
And if it really is the case even given that simple fact, is it a recruitment or coaching problem? Because it has to be one of the other, neither of which come off smelling like roses for the head coach, who is now the NRL's most under pressure man.
Kade Reed, who sat out of the NSW Cup on Saturday in case he was needed for Saturday evening's game against the Rabbitohs, helped his reserve grade side run up plenty of points on Manly last weekend, and while he is still exceptionally raw, he must be given an opportunity.
And at any rate, he can't sit on the bench and not be playing anywhere. It's bad for development and the long-term prospects of the Dragons retaining Reed, who is one of the best young guns anywhere in the sport.
Even if it's not Reed, the constant commentary around the state of selections and fringe players at the Dragons is going to set the club back by years, if that's even possible from its current position.
Because, while there are few positives for the Red V right now, the crop of youngsters coming through the system is the major one.
Lose those players though and it's back to square one.
For too long, the Dragons recruitment and retention has been the butt of the competition, and to some, that is why Flanagan shouldn't be axed from his post.
Because he doesn't have the playing group with enough talent to work with.
But in truth, he built it. He signed Clint Gutherson, Valentine Holmes, Damien Cook and Daniel Atkinson among others.
He is making the selection decisions each week, and he is setting the game plans.
Ben Haran, the club's director of football, must also surely be on a tightrope above the abyss. He has been the general manager of football since the end of 2020, but has been involved with the club for a lot longer than that.
Regardless, this is his sixth full season in the position, and the Dragons, off to their worst-ever start, are yet to make a finals series under his watch.
Questions too much be asked of other members of the board and club brass given the lack of success.
What is clear is that a top to bottom clean out is needed. Axing Shane Flanagan isn't going to fix everything right away, but it will be a start, particularly if others join him on the way out of the struggling joint-venture.
The situation, both on and off the field, is now untenable.
Dragons fans voted with their feet on Saturday night in overwhelming majority, and a fan-led protest may be the only thing that saves the attendances of the next two home games not called Anzac Day, with plans to wear black to Wollongong against the Knights, and to walk out of the game against the Warriors at Kogarah.
The likelihood is that Shane Flanagan will survive one more week. An interim coach for Anzac Day seems almost unfair.
But after that comes a bye.
That is where Flanagan's papers should be marked, alongside Haran and others, and the Dragons can embark on a new era.
More of what happened on Saturday night, and what has been happening for the last month and a half, is simply unacceptable.
