South Sydney can’t win an NRL title in the next month, but the crucial stretch without fullback Greg Inglis could say a lot about their chances of ending a long premiership drought in October.

Inglis suffered damage to his posterior cruciate ligament playing for Queensland in last week’s State of Origin win, and is set to miss between four and eight weeks with the injury.

He will return in time for the finals, but starting on Monday night’s meeting with St George Illawarra, the Rabbitohs will have to adjust to life with Inglis.

It’s a different mindset to being without the brilliant custodian for a week here and a week there – Souths now need to conjure up points on a regular basis without their superstar at the back.

Coach Michael Maguire has yet to decide who will fill in, with either Nathan Merritt – who along with Inglis leads the Bunnies with 12 tries for the year – or Justin Hunt to get the nod.

Souths players expressed confidence in whoever got the nod, claiming the team structure would ensure a smooth progression.

“He’s (the replacement) not going to score the tries like GI, but he’ll do that job that’s required by the coach and that’s all we can ask for,” veteran prop Jeff Lima said.

Inglis said on Thursday he hoped to miss just two to three games, with Maguire hoping for the best-case scenario.

“It’s an injury that you have to wait and see a little bit, there’s 4-8 weeks,” Maguire said.

“It’s really dependent on the stability of his knee – he’s actually pulled up quite well, hopefully it’s better news than the longer.”

The clash against the struggling Dragons shouldn’t prove too big a test, but away games against Gold Coast, North Queensland and premiers Melbourne follow.

The Dragons’ desperation, on the back of three straight losses, flowed over to team selections this week.

Rookie Adam Quinlan – better known as a fullback – was named at five-eighth, though the return of NSW fullback Josh Dugan should be a boost.