Cronulla Sharks head coach Craig Fitzgibbon has revealed young centre Kayal Iro will miss a number of weeks with a hamstring injury.
The coach didn't want to put a confirmed time frame on his return, but suggested his recovery would take somewhere in the range of three to six weeks.
He revealed it wasn't a bad tear, but enough that, at this stage of the season, they will not be in the business of rushing Iro back into the team before he is fit.
"Not certain on Kayal's hamstring. It's not huge, but it's in a position where it's anything between three and six weeks," Fitzgibbon told club media on Wednesday.
"We are in a spot where we would probably be loathe to put an actual time frame on it, but it's not a huge tear; it's just in a location we need to be careful of at this stage of the year.
"It's a long year, and we don't want to throw him back out there too early."
Iro's absence has seen back up outside back Mawene Hiroti has come into the side as his replacement.
In more concerning news for the Sharks, Fitzgibbon seemed to indicate more of his troops could be battling injury issues.
"Sifa [Siosifa Talakai] obviously a HIA, and we might have a couple more, I just want to see how we get through [training] today," the coach said.
Talakai has been replaced on the bench by returning prop Thomas Hazelton, who was due to return last week but couldn't overcome a back injury in time.
When the team was trimmed to 19 players on Wednesday night, Teig Wilton was an absence, with Braidon Burns to come into the starting side.
It's unclear what his injury is at this stage.
Braidon Burns ? Geez, they must have moved pretty quickly to winkle him out of the Cows and get him down south… :=)