WELL, it's official. St George Illawarra are experiencing a late-season slump. The competition leaders were far from impressive in this match. In fact, they were highly embarrassing.

After two losses in a row all eyes were on the Dragons. Fans have been getting anxious lately that their stellar season which was promising so much might be grinding to a halt.

I can tell you there was little in this match to calm their nerves.

The first-half display was poor, to say the least; the second half was even worse.

It was the under-strength Rabbitohs who led the way in all the important areas that win football matches.

The despised underdogs ran harder, looked faster, made more metres in possession, executed their plays with more precision and controlled the ball far better than their more fancied opponents.

Their tactics were solid too.

I go back to a game during this year's Origin series where I pointed to tactics by Manly against the Dragons that exposed flimsy defence around the middle and on the edges of the ruck.

The Rabbitohs exploited these areas brilliantly last night. Issac Luke and Nathan Merritt taunted the Dragons' forwards with their speed around the play-the-ball area.

The Dragons' defence seems to freeze when opposition ball players head slowly across field with inside and outside options.

John Sutton was the chief destroyer in this regard last night. He absolutely bamboozled defenders and created a number of tries and line breaks for himself and eager ball runners.

The Rabbitohs played with great energy, discipline and flair - just like the Dragons used to do.

The Dragons stopped playing as a team. Individuals became isolated in their own negative head noise. Everything fell apart.

In the end, I reckon the Dragons managed to make every mistake a team can make on a football field within 80 minutes.

SO THEY'RE IN A SLUMP - BUT WHY?

The Dragons produced a tremendous display in round 21 to defeat the Storm. Their form since has been nowhere near the standard that helped them to a four-point lead in the minor premiership race.

I don't believe this downturn in fortunes has come as a result of lethargy or arrogance. It's not a case of swelled heads or over-confidence.

Perhaps the initial stages of this slump were self-inflicted and indeed deliberate.

I have no first-hand knowledge of this and I'm just going with a gut feeling here; but I suspect, with a big lead on the competition ladder and the finals still six weeks away, experienced coach Wayne Bennett took the opportunity to pump a month of very hard training into the troops.

This extra training workload has left the Dragons a little heavy-legged on the weekends and we have all seen them struggle during this period.

The spirit looked willing but the bodies looked tired.

If it was Bennett's intention to lower the boom on his side and fly into September under the radar, then he's certainly achieved his goal.

However, with the finals only two weeks away now, I expected better from the Dragons in this one.

This is now a mental issue.

It is painfully obvious the losses have not served them well and their minds look scrambled.

They're nowhere near as slick with their ball movement. Their yardage game is suddenly ineffective. They stutter and stammer.

You don't lose your ability to do these simple tasks - you simply lose your ability to control your thinking.

Toughness, discipline, control and confidence were their strong suits. Not any more.

Their body language is poor. Big broad smiles have been replaced by furrowed brows.

The back-slapping encouragement of teammates has given way to terse glances and heated exchanges.

Where calmness and control once ruled, now panic and frustration are the over-riding emotions.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with ability.

It has everything to do with attitude.

Mr Bennett just needs to provide them with a little attitude correction.

My only comment to this story would be: Who gives a RADSASS???!!!...Rads