Canterbury will breathe a sigh of relief after scans confirmed star players Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau could be back from their knee injuries in as little as four weeks.
The Bulldogs faced a nervous wait when NSW representative Burton limped from the field during the first half of their 40-24 defeat of Gold Coast at Belmore.
Their promising start to the season threatened to sour further when Kikau joined him the casualty ward with a game-ending knee issue of his own.
But the results of scans revealed on Monday that the two men both faced lay-offs of between only four and six weeks with their medial cruciate ligament injuries.
The Bulldogs have the bye in round six so at worst, the duo will miss five games each and return to face Gold Coast at Magic Round in round nine.
Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo indicated on Sunday that captain Stephen Crichton would likely switch from the centres to the halves from the round-three clash with Parramatta.
Crichton has played two matches for Samoa at five-eighth but will start in the halves at NRL level for the first time after being preferenced over Drew Hutchison.
Jaeman Salmon or Sitili Tupouniua are the two leading candidates to take Kikau's place if the Fiji international misses Sunday's game against the Eels.
In good news for the Dogs, Kurt Mann has signed a contract extension that will keep him with the club through 2026.
Mann has proven a shrewd pick-up since arriving from Newcastle for last season to help Canterbury reconfigure their forward pack around lightweight utility players.
"I feel like this is the best footy I've played in my career," Mann said in a statement.
"It just feels like I belong here. I feel like it's home for me."
