St George Illawarra Dragons captain Gareth Widdop is one step closer to his NRL return as his side look to make a run into the finals late in the season.

The English international suffered a dislocated shoulder in his side’s round 3 win over Brisbane after succumbing to the same injury twice last season, and the original expectation was that he would miss the remainder of the season.

But in some good news today for Red V fans, head of athletic performance Nathan Pickworth provided an update on Widdop, and says a return is not too far away.

“Gareth is coming along really well, he is seeing the surgeon tomorrow which is kind of like the final tick of clearance before we can really start putting our foot to the throttle in his rehab,” he said.

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“He is in a phase now where he just needs to get as strong as he can, he’s working hard on his upper body strength and his power.

“After that we will phase him back into some contact and hopefully have him back out there sooner rather than later.”

It would be a massive boost for the struggling Dragons, who are currently sat in 13th position on the NRL ladder and have lost six out of their last seven matches including a 34-14 thrashing at the hands of Manly prior to rep round.

The club will welcome back State of Origin quartet Ben Hunt, Tariq Sims, Paul Vaughan and Tyson Frizell – and the latter looks like he will be fit in time for Friday night’s clash with the Cowboys after struggling with a neck injury during NSW Blues camp.

“The only one we had to really check up on was Tyson who had a bit of a neck concern leading into Origin on Sunday, but he has pulled up really good,” Pickworth said.

“He’s a bit stiff but nothing we are overly concerned about but he’s done some movement and that sort of stuff and he is on track to play the Cowboys.

The Dragons will need to win seven from their last 12 games to be a chance of making the finals this season, and there is no doubt that they will need Widdop as well as all their State of Origin representatives on board for that to become a reality.