In front of members of the club’s 1977 and 1978 premiership teams, the Dragons absorbed an early blow from the Storm and then delivered a stunning counter-punch of their own, booting 13 goals to three after quarter-time to win 16.14 (110) to 9.10 (64) at the QEO.

The result ended the Storm’s 11-game winning streak, while it was a victory that has the potential to ignite the Dragons as they finally broke through for the scalp of a side currently in the top five.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was a real injection of belief for the group today,” Dragons coach Andrew Collins said.

“You can keep having honourable losses, but until you take a scalp and do something about it…

“I thought our pressure was fantastic today. We want to be able to bring that all game, not just for periods and we did that.

“We know that if you let Strath run they will cut you up; we respect their ability to spread and handball and play a really good style of footy. But we were able to pressure them today and that played back into our hands.”

Collins himself was pivotal in the win with a brilliant midfield/forward game.

Having been well held against the Storm earlier in the season, Collins was at his classy best with a six-goal haul in what was a superb leader’s game on a day where his side needed to stand up and make a statement.

The Storm wasted no time applying scoreboard pressure to the Dragons, kicking seven of the first 10 goals of the game to lead by 22 points early in the second quarter.

But the response from the Dragons was brilliant as they booted the next six goals of the quarter and by half-time their 22-point deficit had not only been erased, but become a 14-point advantage.

Set up by the work of ruckman Tim Martin, the Dragons’ midfield obliterated the Storm during their game-breaking run. Their tackle pressure was that of a team possessed, with skipper Blair Holmes setting the tone.

Crucially against a quality team like the Storm, the Dragons also made the most of their opportunities, kicking 6.2 for the quarter and by the main break had a score of 60 on the board against a side that had gone into the match conceding an average of just 58 points per game.

The first half was one of the most enthralling of the BFNL season so far and fitting of a final with plenty of feeling, bodies crashing in and 16 goals kicked.

Not even a hamstring injury to dynamic Sandhurst forward Daniel Connors could slow down the momentum of the Dragons.

Playing just his sixth game of the season Connors – matched up by Shaun Dwyer – had been electric for the first quarter-and-a-half with eight shots for a return of 3.3 and two that didn’t score.

But his game ended 19 minutes into the second term.

“That was disappointing… he’s a player who I really enjoy watching as much as playing with,” Collins said.

“It was a shame for the fans because they missed out on seeing a bit of a show from him, but we’ll get him right and get some more games into him before finals.”

From 14 points up at half-time, the Dragons didn’t let-up in the second half, maintaining their pressure, dominance at the stoppages and running the ball well, while the Storm were fumbly and struggled to generate forward 50 entries with any fluency, as shown by their lacklustre return of 3.8 after quarter-time as the polished ball-use they are renowned for eluded them.

“It can be disappointing when you get yourself in a good position and let the opposition kick the last couple of goals of the game, so it was pleasing we were able to maintain our intensity and even lift it with our running power as the game wore on,” Collins said.

As well as a dominant performance by the Dragons’ midfield, the strong work of their backline was also reflected in Jake Pallpratt, Codie Price and Zac Pallpratt all featuring in their best players.

Fergus Payne and Bryce Curnow kicked three goals each for the Storm.

Like Connors at one end, Curnow in the first half was a strong presence in the Storm forward line, as was the strong-bodied Hugh Robertson, who kicked two first-quarter goals in his match-up on  Matt Thornton.

Saturday was only the third time in their past 87 games the Storm have conceded more than 100 points.