St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor hasn't ruled out keeping Josh Dugan in an NRL exile for next week's must-win clash with Canterbury.
Dugan was a late withdrawal from Sunday's crucial 16-14 win over Penrith after he missed the team bus on Sunday.
The NSW centre was dropped an hour before the game for "disciplinary reasons", before McGregor confirmed he had missed the bus to the ground.
And when asked whether the Cronulla-bound centre would return next week given the team's performance without him, McGregor was non-committal.
"Next week's next week," he said.
"Let's worry about celebrating tonight."
McGregor's call was as gutsy as they come considering the Dragons' position going into the match.
It forced Kurt Mann into the centres for Dugan, while Josh McCrone returned to the halves.
After Manly beat the Warriors in golden point, a loss would have made the Saints just the third side in 22 years to miss the finals after leading the competition at the end of the seventh round.
But McGregor said it was a decision that had to be made.
"Discipline is important to our footy team and on game day especially," he said.
"If you want to drive standards and disciplines it doesn't matter what round it is, or what's on offer.
"It's what the club needs, and our club needed to make a statement whether it be Josh or any other player in the side."
Dugan drove himself to the ground, but by then McGregor had already made his call.
The NSW fullback was kicked out of Canberra in 2013 after repeated off-field incidents, but has lived a relatively unblemished existence since moving to the Dragons.
However he hit the headlines earlier this year when he and Blake Ferguson spent more than six hours at a Lennox Head pub just five days before the State of Origin decider.
Dragons captain Gareth Widdop said McGregor's decision had the support of the playing group.
"We've got standards in our playing group and if players don't meet those expectations then these are big calls you make," Widdop said.
"It could have disturbed us but I thought we moved on pretty well from it."
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