The Sydney Roosters will have to make the grand final without star centre Joey Manu with the club fearing he will miss at least three weeks with his calf injury.
In a devastating blow for both the Roosters and Manu, captain James Tedesco confirmed on Monday that the club's biggest x-factor had received bad news on his calf.
Even in the best-case scenario, Manu will miss three weeks of football after he went down in Friday night's win over South Sydney.
It means he will miss Sunday's elimination final return bout with the Rabbitohs, as well as potentially the semi-final and preliminary final if the Roosters progress.
"He's obviously disappointed," Tedesco told AAP at the NRL finals launch.
"They're saying three to four (weeks). So it's going to be touch and go.
"But we've spoke about it; no matter who's in our team, we've showed our depth over the past couple of years.
"Whoever comes into our team is going to do a good job for us. We've got all the confidence in the world on that."
The Roosters are hopeful Sam Verrills (knuckle) and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (hamstring) will be fit to play, while Cameron Murray is also hopeful of overcoming a concussion for Souths.
But by Tedesco's own admission, Manu is the hardest possible man in that team to replace.
Joseph Suaalii would usually be the obvious choice to move the centres, but Daniel Tupou's groin injury risks leaving the Roosters short in the backs.
It means coach Trent Robinson will likely have to decide between playing Kevin Naiqama on the wing or Drew Hutchison at centre, with Paul Momirovski to fill the other hole.
The Roosters built a reputation for overcoming injuries on the run to last year's finals, but in Manu they lose the man who leads the NRL for tackle busts with 151.
"He's definitely hard to replace," Tedesco said.
"There's his versatility, and he's just a footy player.
"It's going to be on us as a back five to get through the work, because there is a lot of work around the middle.
"He's got that x-factor as well ... but we do have a number of players that have that x-factor as well. So we shouldn't be missing too much there.
"But it's just the instinctive footy player Joey is. He always puts his hands on the ball. So it's on all of us as a team to share that load."
The Roosters will also not have Lindsay Collins back from suspension until the grand final, in what also looms as a a key absence for their finals series.
