Test star Jamal Idris has skipped training with Canterbury as he nurses a wrist injury ahead of Friday night's massive clash with NRL frontrunners St George Illawarra.
Idris has had an ongoing problem with the wrist and the Bulldogs say his absence was a precautionary move.
The giant 20-year-old continued his seemingly unstoppable rise into the game's elite by starring in Australia's 20-10 win over New Zealand on Friday night when he replaced injured centre Greg Inglis.
Idris' successful switch to the left side has left NSW State of Origin coach Ricky Stuart with a welcome selection headache as he chooses between the Gold Coast-bound star, the Dragons' Mark Gasnier, the Bulldogs' Josh Morris and Penrith's Michael Jennings to make up his centre pairing.
Fresh from the bye, the Bulldogs are looking to improve on the 25-6 round five thrashing by the Dragons at the SCG.
"We did have a pretty light week (last week), we gave the boys most of the week off," coach Kevin Moore said.
"We had four or five blokes tied up with rep duty, the other guys got a chance to have a bit of a rest.
"The boys seem really focused and they're fresh."
The Dogs will run into a Dragons outfit with injury clouds over Kyle Stanley, Gasnier, Ben Creagh, Jamie Soward and Darius Boyd.
"They're a professional outfit and they showed (in Sunday's win over North Queensland) that they all turn up with the right attitude and do their job week in week out," Moore said.
"I've got no doubt that they'll recover from yesterday's game in the early part of this week and they'll turn up on Friday night and bring their attitude as they always do."
