With 26 minutes left Graham was tackled high by Dragons prop Zach Starr, prompting Kangaroos centre Fetongi Tuinauvai to start throwing punches, with Ferguson copping a hit in the ensuing scuffle which ruled him out for the rest of the match.

Tuinauvai was sin binned with his side leading 30-16, but despite being down to 12 men the Roos extended their lead to 38-16 through two unanswered tries when he was off the park.

In the dying stages Roos prop Saulala Houma was penalised for a dangerous tackle on Ward which forced him from the field.

It overshadowed a crucial win for the Roos, who needed to claim the two points at Equex Centre to maintain pressure on the top five.

Dragons captain-coach Sam Elwin said both teams had to take responsibility for the second half spotfire.

"It's not good to watch when you've got kids around, it's not a good look and hopefully both teams pull their heads in a bit," Elwin said.

"I know Zach (Starr) didn't do it on purpose, as he (Graham) has kicked he's slipped down and he's got him. He's a good kid and hopefully he's alright from it.

"Starry came in and made that tackle late, but at the same time one of their blokes knocked out one of our major go-forward players, it was a two-way street.

"Big Saul (Houma), he didn't mean it and the same with Zach (Starr), they were both very apologetic about their tackles."

Roos captain-coach Glenn Dumbrell, who scored two tries from dummy half off the back of strong work from his forwards led by Warren Lloyd and Houma, said he was most pleased with his side's immediate response after the Graham incident.

"That (scoring twice with 12 men) is a sign of a good football team, as soon as adversity hits you just do the same thing we've been training for all year," he said.

"Things like that happen in football, we stick up for our mates and then it's all over. Everything after that was pretty clean I thought.

"We carried with purpose, were tough to get a hold of and got some quick play the balls which obviously helps our attack, and we attacked the short sides quite well."

Elwin couldn't hide his disappointment after a loss which keeps the Dragons two points behind fifth-placed Brothers, who lost 18-16 at Gundagai.

The Roos began strongly to take an 18-6 lead and aside from two tries Elwin set up for Dragons winger Bradon Taylor to reduce the gap to 18-16, controlled most of the match.

"My maths isn't good but 13 (players) on 12, you shouldn't be letting them score once. And it's not like they were scoring off kicks, they were going straight through us," Elwin said.

"It was a good test of character today, I wanted to see who could stand up when it comes to finals and unfortunately I found out there's not enough hunger there. I found out the hard way."

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