The Sea Eagles, featuring Gerringong's Reuben Garrick, will be without chief metre-eater Addin Fonua-Blake after he plead guilty to a contrary conduct charge for abusing referee Grant Atkins in his side's loss to the Knights last week.

The Dragons are also looking to bounce back from a loss, but the possible return of Sims is a major boost as the club looks to stay in the finals race.

The Origin back-rower's return will bolster a left edge that's found form in recent weeks chiefly in the form of centre Euan Aitken.

It's also the edge Albion Park-Oak Flats product Adam Clune has taken charge of since debuting against the Bulldogs six weeks ago, the match in which Sims suffered the injury to his wrist.

"We're starting to find good combination on that edge with Cluney, we've got Taz coming back as well so it's going to be a strong edge there now," Aitken, a former Shellharbour Shark, said.

"I've got nothing but raps for Cluney.

"He's a great talker and the way he's leading us around he's starting to earn that trust within the team.

"It takes time but he's starting to talk up more and be confident enough to make that overcall that gets him the ball earlier and lets him play a bit more.

"Having him there I'm getting a bit more clean pill and that lets me get one-on-one with my defender.

"I'll back myself every time with that.

"Duffo's [Matt Dufty] having a really good season so far, he's really improved a lot over the preseason with catch-pass and passing play.

"It's a good combination we've got there so we want to keep building on that."

Aitken ran for a team-high 221 metres in last week's loss to the Raiders - 119 of them after contact - continuing a strong bounce back after being overlooked in favour of Zac Lomax and Brayden Wiliame earlier in the season.

It's a timely return to his best, with the 25-year-old off-contract at season's end, but he says he never lost faith in his ability despite drifting in and out of form over the past 12 months.

"I try not to look too far ahead, all I can worry about is what I do each day and if I'm doing everything I can there'll be no regrets, I'll be happy at the end of the year whether I have to leave or if I stay here," he said.

"I feel like I've been building, I've always been confident in my own ability and I always work hard.

"I knew the opportunity would come, I just had to grab it with both hands.

"I feel like I've done that and I'm looking to build on it, keep improving, and let that do the talking.

"I think in times past we've been a bit stagnant in attack, sometimes the ball wouldn't even get out there and I wouldn't touch the ball in good ball.

"If it's not coming out, all you can really do is back-of-field carries and they aren't as pretty.

"We have changed up our attack a bit and we're starting to get some early ball in the centres and that's what you want."

The performance wasn't enough to get the Dragons over the line against the Raiders last week, with a poor opening stanza proving too much to overcome in a 22-16 defeat.

Aitken said his side will be looking to take momentum from their second-half - which they won 16-4 - into Sunday's showdown with the Sea Eagles.

"We just started completing sets and working from that," he said of the second half revival.

"We had a bit of ill-discipline in the first half that let us down, we started well but the ill-discipline on the back of it gave them some opportunity down our end of the field.

"With that, the tries [we conceded] were pretty weak.

"If we can stop that and be a bit more resilient around that and play for 80 minutes we'll be thereabouts for sure."

In other changes to the Dragons squad, Jordan Pereira returns from suspension at the expense of Jason Saab, while Ben Hunt will earn his first start in the number nine jersey, with Cam McInnes shifting to lock.