Marshall suffered the injury midway through the first half in a tackle by Broncos forward Josh Maguire and needed treatment but stayed on the field to help the Dragons record a fifth consecutive win.

But with his vision affected he had to defer to five-eighth Gareth Widdop more than usual, while hooker Mitch Rein stepped in to first receiver on occasions.

"It is OK now but I just couldn't see for about 40 minutes out of my left eye," Marshall said afterwards. "My nose was bleeding and I couldn't see, I don't know what happened.

"I play on the right side so when the ball was coming I could see two balls so I would just guess. It was weird, man. I was still calling the plays but just calling them to Gareth's side so I would just be a decoy on the short side and the ball would go to Gareth.

"He stood up and took over, and he was great. I thought it was great for his game because he had to take over and control it. I just thought today when I was down and out he really stood up and got us a few repeat sets, set up a try and controlled the game"

Marshall also had trouble calling the plays after halftime because antibiotics for his eye leaked into his mouth and made his tongue go numb but the Dragons had little ball in the opening 15 minutes of the second half before Sam Thaiday scored Brisbane's second try.

St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor revealed his side didn't start a set inside the Broncos half until the 65th minute and just three minutes later English prop Mike Cooper beat four defenders to score from 15 metres out.

"They had a lot of possession on us and I thought we protected it really well," McGregor said. "We can learn from tonight but again I am very happy with the way the guys turned up for each other and showed a lot of character."