Brisbane were better but still fell short in a four-point loss to St George on Friday, marking their 12th loss from 13 games since the NRL’s restart.
Halfback Tom Dearden, centre Kotoni Staggs and young captain Patrick Carrigan worked overtime to change the Broncos’ fortunes.
But the Dragons were well managed by Corey Norman and former Bronco Ben Hunt, who forced a restart with another pinpoint long kick in the final moments to seal the 28-24 victory.
All but certain to miss finals, it was a consolation win for the Dragons (6-9) in Dean Young’s first game in charge since Paul McGregor’s departure.
Brisbane (15th, 3-12) produced more flimsy tryline defence early, Josh Kerr and Corey Norman scoring simple close-range tries to create a 12-0 lead after just six minutes.
But they found something, Darius Boyd laying on a try for Richie Kennar and Cory Paix darting from dummy-half to level the scores.
Fullback Matt Dufty’s three-man cut-out pass found a rampaging Mikaele Ravalawa to give the Dragons an 18-12 lead after another try was denied on review for a line-ball knock-on.
Stand-in Brisbane coach Peter Gentle had the team running drills at the half-time break to address their second-half fade-outs, which had seen them score just 12 points and concede 154 in the last 20 minutes of games this season.
And it seemed to rub off on Staggs, who fended and brushed past two would-be tacklers before stepping the fullback to complete a superb 75m try early in the second half.
A penalty edged St George ahead again before flying Fijian Ravalawa scored his second, Zac Lomax’s quick hands putting him over and then nailing the sideline conversion.
His boot let him down soon after, Lomax’s kick on the run skewing over the sideline with a flying Dufty beckoning inside.
Dearden wasn’t done though, capping a hard-working game with a solo try to make it a two-point game inside the final 10 minutes after Anthony Milford had limped off in his return from a hamstring injury.
Jacob Host then knocked on attempting to score the match-winner but it mattered little as Hunt stepped up to steer the Dragons home.