St George Illawarra prop Mose Masoe could be available to play his first rugby league match in 519 days on Saturday night.
Masoe, 27, last played in an English Super League semi-final for St Helens two years ago before moving back to the NRL and the Dragons at the end of 2015.
Since then he has suffered a run of cripling injuries.
He tore his anterior cruciate ligament in December 2015, ruling him out of his return season, before re-injuring the same knee last December.
The injury ruled him out of the Dragons' pre-season and he has been managed back to fitness without playing any trials.
But five days out from the season's opening weekend, he has been declared fit to play.
"We've taken the shackles off him in the past week-and-a-half and exposed him to everything that he would be in the game," Dragons performance manager Nathan Pickworth said.
"Mose has now completed about a week-and-a-half of full unrestricted training.
"He had a tough 18 months but he's on track for round one."
Masoe will likely return through the club's reserve grade side in the Illawarra Cutters, who also kick off their season this week.
Once he is back to full fitness, Masoe - who played 63 games for the Sydney Roosters and Penrith between 2010 and 2013 - could play a key role in beefing up the Dragons' forward pack.
The Red V have lost Mike Cooper but have recruited Canberra discard and NSW Country regular Paul Vaughan to likely partner Russell Packer in the front row.
"Vaughany is bringing a lot to our forward pack," Packer said.
"I feel like we've got the players and the ability within the playing squad so it's up to us whether or not we could live up to our potential."
The Dragons middle men have been a constant target of criticism in recent years, while their more established edge players have been charged with helping to drive their attack.
But Packer said he and his fellow big men were ready to rise above that.
"Obviously there's always been a bit of criticism there with the forward pack," he said.
"But we've got a good forward pack and if we play to our potential we're going to be able to match it with most in the competition.
"There's only one way to prove that and that's by doing it."
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