St George Illawarra need to win eight of their final 11 matches to have any hope of qualifying for the NRL playoffs.

The Dragons have their third and final bye this week before an 11-game unbroken stretch to finish the regular season.

They have dropped to 12th spot after last Thursday’s 30-18 loss to Cronulla at Shark Park when they coughed up a 12-point half-time lead in conceding four unanswered tries in the second term.

Despite their modest record of five wins from 13 matches, they will likely finish Round 15 just two points outside the cut-off mark for the finals.

But they face a daunting task to remain in the finals equation when they return to the field next week.

To be any chance of sneaking into the final eight, they need to win eight more times but after losing five of their past seven matches, that is looking highly unlikely.

They return to WIN Stadium next Saturday when they will face former Dragons star Zac Lomax and the Parramatta Eels, who are at the bottom of the ladder and will be without halfback Mitchell Moses due to the calf injury which ruled him out of Origin II in Perth this week.

The Dragons then travel to Canberra to face the in-form Raiders, take on the Roosters at Kogarah and competition leaders Canterbury at Accor Stadium.

In the ensuing seven rounds, Shane Flanagan’s squad faces three more teams - Canberra, Cronulla and the Warriors - who are currently in the top eight as well as premiers Penrith.

One of the bright spots for their season has been the rise of Gerringong duo Hamish Stewart and Dylan Egan into the NRL ranks.

Egan scored three tries in his eight appearances before an ACL tear ended his season last month during their win over Brisbane.

Stewart, another 20-year-old forward, has racked up 12 matches in his rookie season, averaging a fraction over 30 tackles per match.

He was only given 22 minutes of game time off the bench against the Sharks last week but still managed to power through 21 tackles.