To be fair, Barrett is an upper strata player with an extraordinary set of skills but he didn’t exactly stand out from the pack at WIN Stadium against the Raiders.

McLinden and Finch, particularly in the first half, revelled in the space and time the Dragons afforded them.

But the post-match talk will not be about the form of the New South Wales five-eighth; it will be about incidents late in the game.

The first was the sending off of Dragons hooker Mark Riddell and the second was a differential penalty from a scrum that should never have happened.

The first try of the match came the Raiders way in the second thanks to this early reticence to tackle from the Dragons.

The Dragons coughed the ball up on the second tackle, which gave the Raiders an attacking scrum 30 metres out from the visitor’s line.

McLinden floated across field while Barrett and co seemed more interested in the men the Canberra five-eighth might pass to.

The Raider playmaker sped around the outside and passed to winger Jamaal Lolesi who made a beeline for the corner.

Fullback, Phil Graham – replacement for Clinton Schifcofske – converted from the sideline and the Raiders had six points on the board after two minutes.

This was not the start the Dragons and their fans required to turn around the recent patch of losses.

But by the tenth minute, the Dragons had returned fire and as they swung the ball wide and the resurgent Shaun Timmins crossed.

The Raiders reclaimed their advantage in the 20th minute when Rod Jensen followed through on a Finch kick.

Then the Raiders took hold of the match, as they had threatened to do, and ran in two more tries and Finch added a field goal.

So as the Dragons headed to halftime they faced not only a 21-8 scoreline but the boos of the home fans.

Timmins, deserving of his recent praise and recognition, set the Dragons back on course with a try early in the second half.

When Riddell scored with fifteen minutes to go and made the score 21-20, it looked like the Dragons had snatched the momentum of the match and would surely find a way home.

But then Riddell followed through on a Finch kick and collected him high and late.

After six suspended weeks on the sideline for a similar offence, Riddell displayed his emotions openly as he left the field – sent off by referee Paul Simpkins.

The Raiders looked as though they would hang on but as the clock wound down the plot took another twist.

The Dragons were held up over the line with ten seconds to go but the Raiders were wasting time to avoid setting the scrum.

Simpkins blew time off and insisted the scrum be formed despite the Raiders' protests.

Then he penalised the Raiders' backline for being inside five metres on the scrum and so awarded the penalty.

Peters walked back ten metres and potted the field goal.

The result was a 21-all draw and some very unhappy Raiders.