St George Illawarra's NRL finals hopes are in tatters after their 38-32 loss to the Cowboys at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Friday night.

The Dragons have been leapfrogged by North Queensland following the high-scoring clash and now sit in 12th place after six losses from their past six outings.

They are six points outside the top eight and even if they win their remaining six games they would likely need other results to go their way to have any chance of a playoff berth.

In the run home they face five teams who are in the top eight so their tough task is all but impossible.

They paid the price for a slow start, trailing 12-0 after conceding two tries in the opening 10 minutes.

A couple of tries midway through the first half to winger Tyrell Sloan and centre Mat Feagai brought the Dragons back on level terms.

But they went to sleep just before the break, allowing the Cowboys to cross three times in the space of seven minutes as the home side took a 28-12 lead into the sheds.

St George Illawarra again rallied with winger Corey Allan, Sloan and back-up hooker Jacob Liddle touching down to make it a two-point ball game heading into the final 15 minutes.

But the Cowboys again kicked clear with co-captain Tom Dearden recording his second try and centre Jaxon Purdue speeding away from the cover defence after a restart went wrong for the Dragons.

A late try to Liddle gave the Dragons one last chance to force the match into extra time but they fell short to suffer their 12th loss from 18 starts this season.

Gerringong Lions forward Hamish Stewart played 38 minutes off the bench for the Dragons, racking up 97 running metres, including 44 post contact, from 11 hit-ups and 29 tackles with just two misses.

The Dragons return to Wollongong next Saturday to face first-placed Canberra.