Shane Flanagan walked out of St George Illawarra's post-match press conference, shattered by a 44-40 upset loss to Parramatta that throws the "terrible" Dragons' final hopes into disarray.
The sloppy Dragons fell 44-12 down after 69 minutes on Saturday, only to come within inches of a miraculous comeback at CommBank Stadium that would have kept their top-eight tilt on track.
But with one last roll of the dice in the final seconds, Ben Hunt could not get boot to ball as he attempted a kick to his right edge and the Eels held on for the wildest of wins.
After entering the round in eighth, the Dragons' finals chances will now effectively be over if Newcastle beat Gold Coast on Sunday.
That would mean only an unlikely run of results would save the Dragons next week, either through a Knights-Dolphins draw or the biggest win in St George Illawarra's history against Canberra.
The situation left Flanagan fuming, with a Tyrell Sloan-inspired comeback that yielded five tries in the final 10 minutes not enough to save his side from a scathing critique.
"We can't be confused by only getting beaten by four points," the Dragons coach said.
"We were terrible, absolutely terrible. It looked like it was our first day together.
"It was a disgraceful first half. I apologise to the Dragons fans, sponsors, everyone. It was just not good enough. I've got to take ownership of that."
Asked whether he would consider making changes for next week, Flanagan reached the end of his tether.
"Unless I go to the local A grade and get some players, I won't be making any changes. I don't want to be rude, but I've had enough. Thank you," he said before standing up and leaving.
With everything to play for, the Dragons produced a woeful first half, winger Mikaele Ravalawa dropping the ball after the first tackle in a sign of things to come.
It took 14 minutes for the Dragons to play the ball in the Eels' half, such was their propensity for errors and inability to defend their tryline.
And with the Dolphins, Brisbane, Newcastle and Canberra cheering against them, the Dragons went on to bomb three tries as they fell 26-6 down in the first half.
Making matters worse, they then leaked two further tries in the first two sets of the second half.
Sivo sneaks through to put Gutho over 👑 #NRLEelsDragons pic.twitter.com/qPt4X9tSQB
— NRL (@NRL) August 31, 2024
Despite the shock result, Parramatta remain in a battle to avoid the wooden spoon when they face Wests Tigers next week.
Inspirational captain Clint Gutherson left the field in the final 10 minutes with a corked quad but insisted he was in no doubt for next Friday's "spoon bowl".
"I thought with eight minutes to go, we were probably safe and they decided to bring me off," he said sardonically.
In premiership history, no team had ever conceded 40 points and won, but the scoreboard did not faze the 16th-placed Eels.
"It really doesn't matter how you win, especially where we're sitting at the moment. You just want to win," Gutherson said.
Dylan Brown replaced Gutherson at fullback, having earlier put Will Penisini into a hole for the first try and looped a cut-out pass to Jake Tago as the Eels punished the leaky Dragons.
Hat-trick for Sivo 🎩 #NRLEelsDragons pic.twitter.com/EilMU7J6ve
— NRL (@NRL) August 31, 2024
Veteran winger Maika Sivo had his best game in recent memory, recording his 100th career try with the first of his three four-pointers.
