St George Illawarra deny they’re taking a risk with star centre Josh Dugan as their NRL finals hopes go on the line against Gold Coast on Saturday.

Dugan is set to take on the Titans at UOW Jubilee Oval despite suffering an ankle injury in last week’s loss to South Sydney which bounced the Red V out of the top eight.

Having led the competition after seven rounds, the Dragons are facing the ignominy of missing the top eight.

Dugan acknowledged Dugan as crucial to their hopes of getting back in finals contention but dismissed the thought they were taking a chance with the NSW and Australian representative, arguing he had been cleared by club doctors.

“It’s an important game, we have to win three of our last four to play finals footy,” McGregor said.

“And Josh is a big part of that, he’s played at the elite level, he’s the current Australian right centre so he’s very important to our team.

“The medical staff feel he’s right to play. As a coach, once he gets past that, you select your best players.”

There’s a sense of deja vu about the Dragons’ season after their 2015 campaign followed a similar pattern.

Two years ago they led the league after 12 rounds only to flag badly, scrape into the top eight and exit the finals in the first week in a golden-point loss to Canterbury.

Despite winning just four of their past 13 games, McGregor said they weren’t far off getting their season back on track.

“Form is only a week away,” McGregor said.

“If you look at the last two weeks, we’ve got ourselves in a position to win but haven’t. Now it’s about making sure that we do.”

McGregor has provided the NRL with a response to the breach notice he received following his outburst at the referees in the wake of his side’s loss to Newcastle two weeks ago.

He was tight-lipped on both the proposed $10,000 fine and the contents of his submission to the NRL.