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Dragons centre Gerard Beale wasn't so happy the last time he faced Melbourne following St George Illlawarra's heartbreaking loss in Round 6.
It was a try from Storm winger Young Tonumaipea after the siren that left St George Illawarra heartbroken the last time these two clubs met back in Round 6 in the Victorian capital.

Television viewers might remember Fox Sports commentator Warren Smith having bellowed: "That's incredible. That's amazing. That's ridiculous..." as the Dragons fell to a 28-24 loss to the Storm, their opponents on Monday night.

All Dragons centre Gerard Beale can remember is his and his team's misery as the majority of the 13,000 crowd present at AAMI Park began celebrating.

"The crowd was so loud," Beale told NRL.com. "Losing that game the way we did really hurt compared to any other game that I have lost before."

Admitting that he circled this Monday night's game on the calendar immediately after the heartbreaking loss, Beale's and the Dragons' focus now is to get one back on their more-fancied opponents.

"You don't want to lose twice to them and losing so close last time it hurts more but obviously there were things we needed to work on from that game," Beale said.

"Melbourne isn't going to hand us the win and it's going to be a big challenge. They had a big win last round against the Eels so it is an important game for us."

While the class of the Storm is not lost on Beale - he has been in a winning side against them only once in seven attempts - the Kiwi Test centre believes the Dragons have what it takes to combat a Melbourne team that will be without playmaker Cooper Cronk.

"You just have to look at the quality of players that they have and you certainly have to be on their game when you come up against them," Beale said.
 
"We have such a quality team ourselves though. We just have to make sure we're doing our role out there and everyone is on their game.

"We have been trying to keep it simple and focus on what we needed to on the field, I feel like we are improving a lot but there's still a lot to go."

While improvement has been incremental at the Dragons, having won two of their last three games, the jury is still out as to whether interim head coach Paul 'Mary' McGregor is a long-term solution at the club.

Beale though believes McGregor's presence has had a substantial impact on the team's back-to-basics approach over the past month.

"Footy is such a simple game sometimes and I think we were getting away from that earlier in the season," Beale said.

"It's just a matter of making sure everyone is doing their role now and that we're playing as a team and from that we'll put ourselves in a good position to win games.

"[Mary] has really helped a lot. He's doing an awesome job though I think there are still things we need to build on."

While Melbourne were perhaps responsible for spearing the Dragons' season some 10 weeks ago, the club will not be afforded a better chance to redeem themselves on Monday night upon their return to Wollongong as they continue their climb towards the top eight.
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