South Sydney Rabbitohs star fullback Latrell Mitchell will have surgery on a knee injury in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone.
Mitchell has been ruled out for eight weeks as he recovers from a hamstring injury, which he sustained during the Round 5 clash against the St George Illawarra Dragons, lasting just 14 minutes during the clash.
He has already missed one game, with Blake Taaffe filling in for him against the Canterbury Bulldogs during Round 6.
Mitchell is set to race the clock to make State of Origin, but with a troublesome knee already giving him problems before the hamstring injury against the Red V, the club have elected to fix the knee injury at the same time.
He had been having cortisone injections on the knee after he tweaked it in Round 4 to continue training and playing.
Head physio Eddie Farah told the club website that the surgery wouldn't require any extra time on the sideline, with recovery time set to be four to six weeks.
"It was well publicised before that injury that he had a knee complaint that we had been managing quite well for a couple of weeks," Farah said.
"He will undergo an arthroscopic procedure today to shave that little bit of cartilage in the knee.
"Recovery from that type of surgery is usually four to six weeks, so it won't set back his timeline at all with the hamstring injury.
"We just thought now is the best time to get that done to give him the best chance to get back to his full fitness for the back end of the season."
While Taaffe has replaced him for the time being at club level, Origin coach Brad Fittler has earmarked Bradman Best, Stephen Crichton and Matt Burton as the most likely players to take his spot for the Blues should Mitchell fail to return to fitness for the opening clash with Queensland.
