Dolphins winger Edrick Lee will miss at least the opening round of the 2023 NRL season.
The former Newcastle Knight, who made the switch during the off-season and was seemingly a strong chance of being named in the Dolphins' inaugural 17, injured his ankle at training on Tuesday.
Suffering a sprain in contact with another player, Lee is expected to miss a month of action.
The Dolphins' inaugural game, which will be played on Sunday, March 5 at Suncorp Stadium against the Sydney Roosters however, is just two weeks away.
It means Lee could aim to be back between Round 2 and 3, with the Dolphins to play the Canberra Raiders in Redcliffe during Round 2, before having their first away game in Round 3 against the Newcastle Knights.
“This was just an unfortunate contact with another player so Edrick is really unlucky here,” Dolphins' Head of Performance Jeremy Hickmans said.
“In good news there will be no surgery required – he will just be restricted to a moon boot for the next week or two.
“It definitely could have been worse - we think it will be a minimum of four weeks of recovery needed.”
Wayne Bennett's side have plenty of backline options, with talk that Euan Aitken will be shifting back to the centres this year after playing in the second-row at the Warriors.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow will play at the back, leaving just two wing spots and one centre spot to be fought out between the likes of goal-kicker Jamayne Isaako, Robert Jennings, Brenko Lee and injured brother Edrick, Tesi Niu and young gun Valynce Te Whare, who is yet to make his NRL debut but impressed in the QLD Cup last year.
Lee is joined in the Dolphins' casualty ward by young gun hooker Harrison Graham, who will miss three months with a leg injury.
Who’s gonna take the number five jersey into rand freedom?