Kieran Foran was injured in the warm-up and it didn't get much better for the Warriors as the Dragons led by Paul Vaughan and Josh Dugan won comfortably.
Foran injury rattles Warriors
There is no doubt the late withdrawal of Kieran Foran threw the Warriors into disarray moments before kick-off. Fresh after training with side all week, the 26-year-old broke down in the warm-up with a hamstring injury to delay his career in Warriors colours for at least another week.
Coach Stephen Kearney admitted the club will know the full extent of the injury over the next 24 hours, and said it was not the time of year to risk the former Kiwi international.
Vaughan on fire again
It is rare the Raiders let go a big man that offers immediate impact at another club, but Dragons recruit Paul Vaughan is a man on a mission to start the season and produced a man of the match performance after blowing the Warriors away up the middle with a barnstorming 186 metres and 38 tackles.
The 26-year-old has found a home in the Red V and at this rate if he continues with his form, Laurie Daley and the New South Wales side could come calling, an achievement that Dragons coach Paul McGregor insists is not our of reach for Vaughan with the form he's in.
Fantasy coaches rejoiced as the prop-forward also top scored for the game with 80 points.
Widdop defies a car crash with milestone
Spare a thought for Dragons skipper Gareth Widdop who was involved in a bad car accident on the way to UOW Jubilee Oval for the game. The 26-year-old was hit from behind with his car considered a write off.
Thankfully Widdop was not harmed and McGregor picked the English international up from the scene. It didn't seem to bother Widdop too much as the five-eighth notched up his 500th point for the Dragons midway through the second half and passed Matt Cooper in third position on the all-time point scoring list for the merged club.
Dragons defence stands up
While the Warriors were making all the errors, the Dragons were coming up with some of their own close to their line but managed to defend the raids from the likes of Shaun Johnson and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck with some gutsy scrambling defence that knocked back any chance of a Warriors comeback late in the game.
After four games, the Dragons are now only conceding 16 points a game, an improvement on last season's average of 22.4 and a true sign McGregor has the side working hard for each other particularly around the ruck.
Their 3-1 start to the season on the back of their defensive efforts is their best since the opening month in 2014.
Errors killing the Warriors
The Warriors will need more than just Foran to turn things around with a large amount of errors affecting the side's ability to turn half chances into points. Kearney's side made 21 mistakes for the game despite having 53 percent of possession and missed over 30 tackles.
Despite the early 18-point lead from the Dragons, the Warriors managed to claw their way back into the contest and if a couple of half-breaks from the likes of Johnson were handled better by the visitors with the last pass, the scoreline could have been a different story.
