Finally, thumbs up for Inglis

SOUTH Sydney captain Greg Inglis is expected to make his long-awaited return from a broken thumb against Canberra this weekend after receiving the all-clear from club doctors.

Inglis must receive one final clearance from his surgeon before taking the field but is tipped to make a timely NRL comeback for the injury-hit Rabbitohs.

The 31-year-old hasn’t played since injuring his thumb against North Queensland in Cairns in early July, missing State of Origin III as a result.

“I’ll return either this week or give it another week,” Inglis said.

“We’ve said right from the start we just want to make sure everything has healed right because we don’t want to re-break it and miss the rest of the year.

“We just want to make sure everything is in place and we can go from there.”

The Rabbitohs have been cautious with Inglis and rested him from last Thursday’s loss to Brisbane on his surgeon’s advice.

Should he make his return, it will be a massive boost for the Rabbitohs who have looked well below their best in losses to the Sydney Roosters and Broncos over the previous fortnight, which resulted in them surrendering the competition lead.

Coach Anthony Seibold has been forced to deal with a backline crisis over the last few weeks but relief is in sight with Inglis and the scheduled comebacks of Alex Johnston (hamstring) and Campbell Graham (wrist) against the Raiders in Canberra. Adam Doueihi (knee) has been ruled out for the season.

“We’ve got more injuries in the backs than we’ve had in a long time,” Inglis said. “In saying that, it just wasn’t our week last week, the week before was a let down.

“I know the boys will be fired up. We reviewed everything this morning. You have to go into finals footy with momentum.

“We can’t go in in the form we’re in and we know that.”