Vintage Val's highlights reel helps find winning mindset

“I was just really in the game, where I think I was probably in the game at the start of the year for the first couple of games, but then I probably just mellowed out and probably wasn't myself?

“So it was good to get back to what I know I can do and all the boys obviously are really happy for me and calling me 'old vintage Val's back', so hopefully I can keep it up and I don't want to do a one-off game like that.

“Obviously we haven't won, so I wanted to win and I couldn't do what I do unless the boys played the way they did, so I thought it was a really good, team effort.

“I thought I defended well, our edge defended well as well, especially against [Kotoni] Staggs and big [Xavier] Willison out there, so it was just an all-around good team performance.

“I got a couple of tries out of it, but I got more confidence from the way we played together as a team, I think."

Despite the difficult start to the season, speaking to the team, the players and coaches were confident something had been building over the past few weeks following tough match-ups against top sides like Penrith, Warriors, Knights and Roosters. 

“I think we've been building something for the past couple of weeks," Holmes said.

“I thought we played kind of well against Penrith in the first half, and then who knows what happens after that if Cookie [Damien Cook] scores that try.

“There were periods against Warriors, they are first and second of those two teams, and where I felt like we could have done something there and then to obviously win against the Broncos when they got Payne [Haas] coming back, a couple of boys come back from Origin as well …

"(This could be the start of something), I mean, there's a lot of great things going on outside of (the win) as well, obviously with the signings in the next year …

"Obviously the players that you're here with now, you don’t want to let them down. Cookie’s going away, we want to see him off on a high and he wants to play well.

“There's a lot to play for this year and obviously the Red V, it's a massive club and there's obviously a lot of fans … there's a lot of fans everywhere in Australia that really support, which I notice every day.

“A lot of people come up and say ‘I'm a massive Dragons fan, just thinking that you're doing great’, and it's things like that as well that really help my confidence.

“Obviously cop a bit of slack from some people, but of course you got to ignore those ones.”

After the tough start to the season, Holmes also said he understood why he wasn’t given a call-up to the Maroons squad for the opening State of Origin match and found himself in unfamiliar territory watching as a fan.

“One thing, when Bill's first come into Origin, he's always said this jersey's earned, you have got to earn it to wear the Maroon jersey," Holmes said. 

"No matter what you've done in the past and what I've done for Queensland in the past, it's about that past year, and we all know I haven't been playing up to that standard and it's fair play.

“I don't expect him to just pick me because of what I've done in the past few years, so it's unfair for people playing well.

“Jojo’s been playing well and Selwyn Cobbo’s been playing well, so it gives opportunities for guys like that and it makes me want play better to try and get back in there.

“I thought they played pretty well, Game One.

“Result didn't go the way they would have liked, considering KP [Kalyn Ponga] got sent off, but they still had chances to win it, and I thought they would gain a lot of confidence from that.

“Cookie asked me ‘what are you going to do, where are you going to watch the game?’, and I was 'I actually don't know', because the last time I watched it was 2016.

“I ended up just watching it, I got a projector and I just put it in the kids' room and just put it on the wall, so it was like a massive screen.

“It was eight o'clock, so it was very dark, you don't need to shut out the curtains, and it was me and my wife and my young fella, he loves it, gets amongst it all wearing maroon and cheering, so it was actually quite fun.

“Obviously the first half was fun – you kind of want those games where it's a nail biter, you don't want it to be a boring 50 – I mean, I'm a Queensland, I would like that - but it was a fun game to watch.”

The Dragons next travel to Ocean Protect Stadium to take on local derby rivals the Sharks.