Fullback Cody Ramsey is looking to rediscover the Dragons' spark, after missing key rounds where St George Illawarra fell out of finals calculations.
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The 22-year-old made his return from his grade two medial ligament knee injury in last weekend's narrow loss to the Raiders. The fullback suffered the injury in the Dragons' round 19 win over the Sea Eagles with the youngster getting caught in an awkward tackle with Dylan Walker and Sean Keppie.
The setback could not have come at a worse time for the Dragons, with Ramsey in career best form. The Molong local was sorely missed when the Dragons needed him most as the team looked to sneak a spot into the top eight. The team's faint finals hopes were officially dashed in their tight loss against the Raiders on Sunday.
Ramsey told the Mercury he is eager to pick up from where he left off when the side faces the Titans in Wollongong on Sunday.
"I was happy to be back last weekend and I really needed that game against the Raiders to get my leg moving properly again and I'm feeling back to normal now. It was unfortunate because the injury came at the wrong time of the year where I was starting to play some good football. The team were fighting for finals then and for me to just get injured was disappointing," he said.
"It was incredibly tough to be on the sidelines the past few weeks as it would be for anyone, but it is just the way it is and as professional you have to deal with that."
He said the injury itself was tough for him mentally but he always had faith it would not slow him down.
"The injury did set me back but I've got to credit our physiotherapists for building my knee back up quicker than expected. I worked really hard with my rehab and I only ended up missing the two games when it looked like it could have been longer than that," Ramsey said.
Despite the season being a disappointing one, the one shining light for the Dragons, perhaps aside from a breakthrough season from young-gun Talatau Amone, has been the rise of Ramsey. Making the switch from the wing to fullback, has been a positive with Ramsey making the position his own.
He said despite the disappointment of missing finals, he has been happy with his own form this season.
"I think I've learnt a lot, especially this season and that has always been the main thing for me is to learn more about the game to help me with my on-field performances," he said.
But for me it's always a learning curve and I feel that I'm still so far away from where I want to be with my performances."
The Dragons will be up against a Gold Coast side coming off their best performance of the season with a 44-24 win over Manly last Sunday.
The Dragons have three games left in their season with the Titans this weekend, then an away fixture against the Tigers before facing rounding out the season at Jubilee Stadium in Kogarah against the Broncos.
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