Veteran hooker Dean Young will attempt to halt St George Illawarra's slide down the NRL ladder when he makes a welcome return from injury on Friday night.

Young's leadership and resolve have been sorely missed by the Dragons in recent weeks, and his return from a long-term knee complaint could not have come at a better time ahead of the Sydney Football Stadium clash against the resurgent Wests Tigers.

The former Test and NSW Origin utility hasn't played in a month due to tendonitis in his knee, with the Dragons winning just one of three matches in is absence to drop out of the top four.

Despite being cleared to return, Young failed to take part in Tuesday's training run at WIN Stadium as a precaution, with star centres Matt Cooper and Mark Gasnier along with Test second-rower Ben Creagh also rested as they nursed bumps and bruises.

Prop Jon Green denied talk of truth sessions in a bid to arrest the club's two-game losing streak, saying it was just a matter of resetting their focus.

"I think it'll be fine. We're just not putting our minds to the job for the 80 minutes," Green said.

"We did it for 20, probably 30 minutes on the weekend and then a few little things like speeding up the play the ball gets us."

Asked if the players had lost the hunger to challenge for the title, Green said: "Not really ... we're in the finals, we're just waiting around.

"It's happened to us the last couple of years, we'll be right."

Young's return to the starting line-up is set to result in Nathan Fien moving back to the bench, with utility Kyle Stanley likely to be the one to drop out of the final 17.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP