By Jasper Bruce in Sydney

CANBERRA’S habit of triumphing in chaotic encounters is leaving coach Ricky Stuart frustrated, after a 36-26 win over St George Illawarra that would have been much more convincing but for a Junior Amone-inspired comeback from the Dragons.

The Raiders cruised to a 24-6 halftime lead on Friday night by exploiting the Dragons’ notoriously leaky left edge, Matt Timoko starring for Canberra in the first stanza at WIN Stadium.

But just as Canberra looked ready to kick their habit of only winning by small margins, Amone helped the Dragons pile on three tries in seven minutes and defy the absence of disgruntled State of Origin representative Ben Hunt.

St George had to contend with injuries to stand-in fullback Paul Turner (back), highly touted playmaker Jayden Sullivan (hamstring), and hooker Jacob Liddle (head knock) in their pursuit of an upset.

But in the 71st minute, a try to fullback Seb Kris returned the momentum to the Raiders.

Incredibly, the 10-point margin marked Canberra’s biggest victory from 11 wins this year.

“Me sitting here all happy and going in there and patting them on the back is the wrong actions from the coach tonight,” Stuart said.

“We used to be a team that was just happy to win those games and it didn’t matter how.

“We’ve got to change that attitude and mindset to being more ruthless and going on with it.”

The Dragons remain rooted to 16th spot on the ladder but interim coach Ryan Carr applauded his side’s improved intensity.

“Probably something we’ve been guilty of in the past couple of weeks is going out of the game, especially towards the back end,” he said.

“But just the fight in the boys, there would have been a heap of reasons there to give up, with the injuries that we had and people playing out of position.

“I’m super-proud of the effort.”

The game also featured one of the great try celebrations of recent memory.

After winger Jordan Rapana crossed for the first score of the night, the Raiders positioned themselves around the corner-post to recreate Australia’s infamous dismissal of England’s Jonny Bairstow in last week’s second Ashes Test.

Born in Bradford, the same English city as Bairstow, Raiders captain Elliott Whitehead assumed the role of the wandering batter, with hooker Zac Woolford moonlighting as Alex Carey behind the “stumps”.

It was Timoko’s line break down the right edge that put the Raiders in position to score that try and he extended the lead to 18-0 when the ball went through hands and found him on the right.

Timoko grabbed a second try after the break when Matt Frawley’s kick to the wing caught Saints’ edge infield.

But Amone appeared intent on challenging Timoko for man-of-the-match honours and hoisting the Dragons back to the winner’s circle after hefty back-to-back defeats.

Amone pounced on a Blake Lawrie offload to send the Dragons on the way to Mikaele Ravalawa’s try in the 56th minute, hoisted the kick that put Zac Lomax over in the 61st and threw the cut-out pass that confirmed Ravalawa’s hat-trick two minutes after that.

Suddenly, the Dragons had clawed back from 30-10 to 30-26.

But when Kris dummied to the right and cut through the defence, the Raiders spoiled the party and consigned the Dragons to a third-straight loss.

With middle forwards Corey Horsburgh, Pasami Saulo and Josh Papalii all unavailable, Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton switched to lock for the first time in his career and finished with 21 tackles and 60 run metres.

“It worked really well for the first half. He did a really good job,” Stuart said.

News all day, every day at CityNews.com.au.