St George Illawarra hooker Cameron McInnes has admitted injured fullback Josh Dugan is irreplaceable, but believes NRL veteran Jason Nightingale can go some of the way to filling the void.
Dugan suffered a broken cheekbone in a head clash with club teammate Russell Packer while playing for Australia in Friday night's Anzac Test.
While the prognosis was better than expected, Dugan is likely to be sidelined for three weeks and will miss Friday night's derby with Cronulla at UOW Jubilee Oval.
With the Dragons having a bye in round 12, he may only miss two NRL matches, the number of games he spent out injured earlier in the year when Nightingale also switched to No.1.
"When Jason Nightingale played fullback for a couple of games against Manly and the Cowboys he played really well," McInnes said.
"He's got so much experience and he runs the ball strong so he'll do the job there.
"Obviously Duges is irreplaceable as a player but we're comfortable Gypsy (Nightingale) will do the job."
Taane Milne comes into the starting line-up to play on the wing while Jai Field moves into the 17 after scoring a try for the Junior Kangaroos in their commanding win over the Junior Kiwis.
Also missing from the Dragons' first-choice spine is five-eighth and captain Gareth Widdop who is hopeful of returning from a knee injury for his side's Queen's Birthday clash with Canterbury.
Kurt Mann, who wore No.6 in St George Illawarra's 34-22 loss to Melbourne, will again deputise for Widdop.
"I thought Kurt Mann was really good against Melbourne," McInnes said.
"He brought some spark and set up a couple of tries there."
While the Dragons took bragging rights in their 16-10 round three win over the Sharks, it shapes as a considerably tougher test without Dugan and Widdop.
"The local derby was a close game last time and we're looking forward to the same sort of game," McInnes said.
"It will be physical and a grinding match for the full 80 minutes. That's the way we like to play."
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