Tyson Frizell remains in the frame for a St George Illawarra return against Newcastle

Initially expected to miss four to six weeks after undergoing surgery for a lacerated testicle suffered in St George Illawarra's round one loss to the Cowboys, Frizell has recovered faster than expected and was named in the Dragons 21-man squad for this weekend. 

Teammate Korbin Sims said the squad is looking forward to welcoming their star forward back.

"Tyson trained with the squad on Tuesday," Sims said at a promotional event for Johnny Bigg Shellharbour. "He ran pretty well, we asked him how he felt and he said he felt alright. He'll get the final say on his own fitness. 

"The injury is not one you want to fool around with, he's going to be the judge of his own fitness. If he feels good and capable of being able to play a game, we could see him. Hopefully we'll be able to get him back soon."

After making his club debut last weekend, Sims has been named on the bench for the second-straight week. While it's a role he enjoys, Sims is hoping to force his way into the starting team in the coming weeks.

Such a move would allow Frizell to return to the right edge after he shifted to the middle to cover for the indefinite suspension of Jack de Belin.

"At the moment I do enjoy the bench role, I'll do whatever it takes for the team, and the coach knows that, but I'd love to be back starting. If we're winning games with me on the bench, we're not going to change that formula that's working.

"We'll find out in the next couple of weeks, I hope to force my way into the starting side, but at the moment, I'm happy to play the role off the bench.

"The coach knows I want to be a starting player, but you can't get everything your own way. Now it's just biding my time, I'm more than happy to play from the bench. If we're winning games, it's working, and I'm happy to do that for the team."

Read more: Dragons positive Widdop will return in 2019

A Frizell return would provide the Dragons a major boost as they look to build on last week's first win of the season when they face the Knights on Sunday night.

Sims played a major role in that victory, making an impact off the bench and crossing for a crucial try in his first game of the season.

"The win was the most important thing, but I'm not going to complain about scoring a try in my first game. I know there's plenty more work I can do, if I score a couple of extra tries here and there, I'll be pretty happy.

"I think I had some good moments there, it was my first game of the year, so I'm not getting carried away, there's definitely room for improvement. On the other side, I'm quite pleased with the way I took the game on and I'm looking forward to working on the parts of my game I didn't do well."

In a strange twist of fate, Sims will play a former team for the second-straight week and he's looking forward to returning to Newcastle for what should be a close encounter.

"There's a lot of history, a lot of pride at Newcastle. It's a great place, a team on the rise, they've got a lot of good players in their system. From a Dragons point of view, we're looking to build on last week. If we can keep building, little things each week, we'll narrow down the areas we didn't do so well."

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