St George Illawarra battled bravely in Canberra but just fell short to lose 28-24 at GIO Stadium.

With 11 regular first-graders out due to injury, the Dragons were rank underdogs but came home strongly to nearly steal victory against the competition leaders.

The Dragons have now dropped to a 6-9 record and will finish Round 18 in 11th spot but their playoff hopes are fading.

They are just two competition points behind eighth place but they need to win the majority of their remaining nine games to have a hope of sneaking into the finals.

Dragons coach Shane Flanagan was unhappy with some of the refereeing decisions which cost his team victory, including a controversial no-try ruling against Tyrell Sloan in the first half when the final pass was ruled to have travelled forward from Moses Suli.

"Lucky the rules are changing, related to press conferences, because I'd be paying a fine," he said.

"When you're a side flying high like the Raiders, you probably see that they get the bounce of the ball and they deserve it because (they're) at the top of the table.

"When you're at where we're at, the middle of the table, sometimes you feel that you don't get the rub of the green sometimes. It's a tough one. In the end, that's the difference.

"I thought we should've won."

The Dragons started strongly before Xavier Savage opened the scoring for the Raiders against the run of play halfway through the first term.

Sloan equalised in the 32nd minute before Kaeo Weekes scored the first of his three tries just before half-time when he scooped up a kick from a Dragons attacking and returned the ball the length of the field.

Canberra added three more tries to one response from Dragons forward Jaydn Su'A to make it 28-12 with 20 minutes to go.

But the visitors refused to lie down and finished on top of the Green Machine with Sloan grabbing his second and Kyle Flanagan pouncing on an in-field kick from the winger to make it a four-point gap with eight minutes left.

However, they were unable to cross in the closing stages and the Raiders hung on by the skin of their teeth.

Gerringong forward Hamish Stewart sat out the match due to a concussion he suffered last week against Parramatta but should be back for next Saturday's clash with the Roosters at Kogarah.

In the NRLW, the Dragons kicked off their season with a win, knocking over Canberra 36-14.

They raced in six tries to three with Raecene McGregor bagging 16 points from a try and six goals.