From the outside looking in St George Illawarra were bordering on woeful in their last-start loss to the Gold Coast, but Benji Marshall is adamant the performance was not as bad as it seemed.

St George Illawarra are desperately clinging to eighth spot which will get them into the finals for the first time since Wayne Bennett's departure at the end of 2011. While only a minor miracle would see them fall out of finals contention, their recent performances indicate they may be just making up the numbers when the finals start next week. It is a situation Marshall is happy for rival teams to believe.

"What it does do is it takes the pressure off us and everyone forgets about us," Marshall said. "At times this year when we have relieved a bit of pressure and no one was talking about us we played our best. I hope people keep saying it because we have the belief. [Making the eight] was a realistic goal for us because our club hasn't made it in the last three or four years. You don't want to just limp in there but the season we've had we should take some confidence out of that. This time last year we were planning mad Monday."

The Dragons have lost two of their past three games and have not beaten a fellow top-eight team since round 12. Marshall described the team's two-point loss to Gold Coast as "not as poor as you think".

"I watched the game back and we weren't that poor," Marshall said. "We had little lapses in six sets of six which probably cost us the game. Losing to the Gold Coast is not a great thing but they probably couldn't have played any better. Losing was sad but you have to move on."

The Dragons play the Wests Tigers who showed how dangerous they can be when they promote the ball, after beating the Warriors 50-16 last week. He has spoken to his inexperienced teammates about the excitement of playing finals football.

"It's important to get some momentum," Marshall said. "Don't get me wrong, we are going out to win this game to make sure we do make the semis. It's just about momentum. I hate saying that we're there when we're not. I spoke to the boys about [buzzing] earlier in the week. A lot of our team haven't been there before. Once you get there it's so exciting and fresh."

Marshall, who is off contract at the end of next year, has indicated his desire to play beyond 2016. Marshall, 30, ruled out a move to the English Super League.

"I'm feeling pretty good. I feel like I could go for three or four years," Marshall said. "As long as my body agrees with me I'll be sweet. At the end of this year I'll sit down with Mary [coach Paul McGregor] and see the expectations of the club and what they want me to do. If they want to keep me around then we'll talk about, if not then I might have to find a new home."