Co-captain Isaiya Katoa returned from injury and came up with the defensive play that helped the Dolphins score Friday's match winner in Wollongong.
With a little more than 10 minutes remaining, veteran centre Val Holmes streaked down the left side as the Dragons hunted an equalising try.
But Katoa tapped his inside pass to the ground and snatched back possession, with the vocal home crowd believing the halfback had knocked on.Â
Referee Irons ruled Katoa's touch had been backwards, allowing the Dolphins to march up the field and put Tom Flegler over for the decisive try.
The Dragons have been on the receiving end of other divisive calls this season, but coach Young was willing in his praise for the rookie referee after full-time.
"I'm not going to talk about decisions or the ref. The ref was on debut, wasn't he? I thought he did a good job," Young said.
"Yeah, (it is a big moment), but there are moments we're not icing. We're making a couple of line breaks and not turning them into points.
"We need to nail a our opportunities when we get them."
Selwyn Cobbo nabbed two tries in a win that helps the Dolphins close in on a historic first finals berth following narrow misses in the last two seasons.
The fifth-placed Dolphins will finish the weekend two wins clear of the team in eighth and need only one more victory to post a winning record in 2026.
"It's exciting but I think what's really important for us is to make sure we take it week by week," said Katoa.
"We start to look ahead too far and I think get distracted with obviously making our first finals appearance, we probably lose focus on what's at hand.
"For us, it's obviously reviewing this game, enjoying tonight with the win and getting back to work."
The newest signing of the Dragons' recruitment blitz, Dolphins five-eighth Kodi Nikorima had a mixed night against his future club.
He put Connelly Lemuelu into space, grabbed a superb flick pass from the second-rower, then helped Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to the Dolphins' first try.
But a Nikorima error put the Dragons in position for their first try, and the five-eighth blew another chance in the red zone when his pass for Cobbo sailed into touch.
The improving Dragons led after 20 minutes, scoring their first two tries as Clint Gutherson and Kyle Flanagan combined on both sides of the park.
They were back within six points when five-eighth Lykhan King-Togia, replacing underwhelming recruit Dan Atkinson, put Tyrell Sloan into space.
Grabbing King-Togia's floating cut-out ball, Sloan streaked down the left edge and then passed inside to Gutherson, who made it a one-score game.
But Flegler's game-sealing effort confirmed the result, despite a late Ryan Couchman try for the Dragons.
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