Fast starts and slow finishes a bad habit for Dragons

After bombing a 16-0 lead against the Rabbitohs on Thursday night, Dragons coach Paul McGregor was left to lament yet another fade-out from a team that has made a habit of starting well and not going on with it.

A week after a 14-6 lead went to waste against Cronulla and a fortnight after getting out of jail having blown a 10-0 advantage against the last-placed Bulldogs, McGregor questioned the mental approach of his side once momentum started to turn against them.

"It's been consistent in our game the last three weeks, we get off to really good leads," he said after the 32-24 loss.

"To concede points in a row, our discipline and staying in systems at important times when we're put under pressure, we know what to do but we're not doing what we know.

"We're trying to solve things on our own and it just doesn't work.

"It's disappointing because it's a game where we had a comfortable lead and we were in control."

For Souths winger Alex Johnston to nab two long-range intercept tries was particularly disappointing for McGregor given the final margin.

"I don't know how many times it happens in the NRL the same bloke gets two intercepts and runs the length. It's 12 points. You know that guy's going to come out of the line. It's just disappointing," McGregor said.

"It's behaviours when you're under pressure you have to be stable.

"Getting a handy lead, they lose [Adam] Reynolds, got one kicker, majority of ball playing will be done by their six, they adjusted well.

"It's trust and it's belief at times when you're fatigued. We have to stop making excuses. We have to own it, all of us.

"It's hard because as I said, 16-nil, [the Rabbitohs have a] half off, play the game the right way and we win comfortably. To Souths' credit they played disciplined footy, played out of our own end most of that second half and they got the result.

"We get comfortable leads in games in the last three weeks, 14-6, we led Canterbury 10-0 and today we led 16-0 and we're not going on with it.

"You train for it through the week and guys know what they need to do. It's frustrating at the moment to see so much difference between our best and our worst within a 20-minute period."