The Melbourne Storm have confirmed all of Will Warbrick, Jahrome Hughes, and Sua Fa'alogo will be fit in time for the finals, while Ryan Papenhuyzen and Jack Howarth are both due back next week.
The Storm face a crunch top-four clash with the Penrith Panthers this weekend, minus their star fullback Papenhuyzen, with the club revealing he suffered delayed concussion symptoms after last weekend's convincing victory over the Brisbane Broncos.
"Just the day after and more so Saturday, he just got a bit of delayed concussion," the club's director of football Frank Ponissi said of Papenhuyzen in an injury update released on Wednesday.
"Given everything about concussion, it's something we are extra precautionary with these days, so he will miss this week, but he is already recovering very well.
"He'll continue to rest for the next few days, but the way he has gone the last 48 hours, we think he will be back next week."
Papenhuyzen will be joined back on the park next weekend by Jack Howarth, who was close to being picked this week as he recovers from a groin injury.
"He got really close to playing, but I just think again it's one where we have a precautionary mindset. He will be 100 per cent next week for the Bulldogs," the veteran football manager said of the young centre and second-rower, who has also missed time this year with a shoulder injury.
In the longer-term injury department, former rugby sevens winger Will Warbrick is finally approaching a return from a concussion.
His last game was in Round 4, with the New Zealander having multiple setbacks on the road to recovery from the head knock suffered against the St George Illawarra Dragons.
Ponissi revealed the winger is now back training and will be available for the finals in first-grade, although he will return through reserve grade first owing to the number of games he has missed.
"Will is back to full training with the team, which is fantastic for himself as well as his teammates and us," Ponissi said.
"Just seeing him running around every day with the team rather than away from the group on his own. He'll continue to build up. He has missed a lot of training.
"He isn't far away from playing, and he will go back and play QCup. Given we have been so thin on the ground with outside backs for most of the season, especially at the moment, to have some of those players coming back before finals is going to be tremendous."
Sua Fa'alogo, like Warbrick, is also due back before the finals and is currently targeting a return in the final two rounds of the season.
The other major injury confronting Melbourne is to halfback Jahrome Hughes, who dislocated his shoulder a fortnight ago.
The New Zealand international and 2024 Dally M Medal winner was reportedly ahead of schedule last week, but Ponissi said the aim is still for the first week of the finals after he avoided surgery.
"He's going really well. Still on track for Week 1 of the finals. There is no change to that. He is showing good signs at the moment, he is running, and hopefully in a couple of weeks he can join training, then get a few weeks under his belt with the team, then hopefully be ready for Week 1 of the finals, which we are very confident he will be," he said of Hughes.
