On a dour Easter Saturday in Wollongong, Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan provided some of the few bright sparks with a silky double.
The win marked the Dragons’ first victory since round one, with Sloan scoring either side of halftime with his speed and skill to ensure a 20-6 lead.
Manly threatened a brief fightback late following a Haumole Olakau’atu try, but fittingly any hope of that was ended when Lachlan Croker spilled the ball late.
The Sea Eagles have now won only one of their past 10 matches in Wollongong dating back to 2005, and appeared struck down by the venue again on Saturday evening.
They completed only 10 sets in the first half and made another eight errors after the break.
Tom Trbojevic in particular had a shocker, setting up the first try of the night but making a total of four errors.
St George Illawarra were at times just as error-riddled, only getting to their kick twice in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
Still, there was at least some resilience in defence for the hosts.
After conceding 84 points over the past fortnight, the Dragons at one stage defended their own line for 17 straight tackles without offering a gap.
Ultimately, it proved the difference.
Things had looked ominous from the Dragons early when Trbojevic ran the ball out of dummy-half and provided a low offload for Tolutau Koula to score.
But the Dragons were able to hit back through Jack Bird, when Tommy Talau couldn’t handle a cross-field kick from Ben Hunt and the St George Illawarra centre pounced.
Sloan’s try then put the Dragons ahead, sliding through Manly’s right-edge defence on the back of a ball from Kyle Flanagan.
The fullback then crossed again after the break, running on to a Hunt banana kick after a bust from Tom Eisenhuth off a Jack de Belin offload.
Then it was the Dragons’ defence that held on.
Mikaele Ravalawa tackled Jaxson Paulo into touch as the Manly winger looked set to score one try, and forced an error as the Sea Eagles flyer appeared in for another.
And while Olakau’atu surged his way over the line late, Manly succumbed to their Wollongong hoodoo again as another late error finished the match.
AAP