Tyson Frizell is considered a certainty to make his NRL return from a rib injury for St George Illawarra against Manly on Sunday.
The NSW lock got through a contact session in Wollongong on Thursday, after having been given a week off by the Dragons in last week's golden-point loss to Canberra.
Frizell, who has cemented his spot a Blues starter, required pain-killing injections to get through the final two representative matches and also battled an ankle injury between the games.
He was given the best part of a week off training by the Dragons after last Wednesday's series-losing decider, and returned to the Saints on Tuesday.
"It was evident that he had been injured for some time," Dragons coach Paul McGregor said.
"He's back training and is looking forward to playing this weekend back in his edge back-row position.
"We expect Tyson to really improve us going into the back end. It's really important what he is going to do."
In another boost for the Dragons, prop Russell Packer is likely to overcome a hip injury to face the Sea Eagles.
The Dragons have lost four of their past five and risk slipping out of the NRL's top eight for the first time this season if they lose to Manly and Penrith beat Gold Coast.
But McGregor insisted the return of Frizell and fitness of Packer could help swing that.
The Dragons were able to keep an unchanged starting pack during the first 14 rounds of the competition as they sat within the top four.
It allowed players to share time between lock and on the edges, as the Dragons boasted a mobile and powerful forward pack.
However, they have been forced into changes each week since with the Origin period, along with injuries to Frizell and Paul Vaughan, and Jack de Belin's suspension.
"The rotation is really important, and that's what was making us so successful at the start of the year with our power game," McGregor said.
"The continuity we had over the first eight weeks, we didn't have any injuries around that middle part of the field, the interchange was working well, their minutes were split."
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