Bronson Xerri's exile is over, but the story of how he didn't play in the Good Friday clash against the Rabbitohs reveals a coach caught between tactics, communication and timing.

Phil Gould has blown the lid off one of the more peculiar sideline decisions of the season, confirming Xerri will finally return to NRL action Thursday night against the undefeated Panthers at Accor Stadium, and laying bare the chain of events that kept him on the bench during their loss to South Sydney.

Xerri will be officially unveiled in Tuesday's squad announcement as Stephen Crichton's replacement in the centres, ending a stretch in the wilderness that saw him dropped to NSW Cup, and left to stew on the extended interchange while the game moved on without him.

His absence in round five raised plenty of eyebrows.

When Crichton crumpled to the turf with a shoulder injury early in the second half, many assumed Xerri's moment had arrived. 

Gould set the record straight on Nine's 100% Footy, painting a picture of a coach handcuffed by a medical update, a shrinking interchange bench, and an almost touching reluctance to bruise anyone's ego.

“Crichton goes down,” Gould said on the panel.

“The medical team goes on to assess the injury, it came back that Crichton would be back in five minutes.

“They thought he was coming back. Cameron has used three bodies - he has used (Lipoi) Hopoi, they had used (Sitili) Tupouniua, and they had used (Kurt) Mann.

“Sean is there to cover halves and hooker. If he puts Bronson on, he can't go and use Sean if one of those guys go down.

“He was told Crichton would be back in five minutes. He didn't want to offend the doctor. I said you're not offending the doctor - he doesn't have X-ray vision, it is in the heat of the battle, you can't help that.

“The coach was feeling more for the doctor. He didn't want the doctor to feel he was angry about it. You have about a minute to make these decisions.”

With their captain now facing a spell on the sidelines, Xerri gets the runway he's been waiting for, his first NRL appearance since the Las Vegas season opener, with a centre spot suddenly his to claim.

What initially appeared to be a dislocated shoulder in the moment revealed itself to be something far more serious once the medical staff got to work in the dressing room.

It was a grade 5 AC joint injury that left his collarbone visibly protruding from his shoulder.

"When you see grade five, it is pretty ugly; it is not good at all,” Gould described.

"I actually had a serious one myself 40-odd years ago, a serious one, and it is still sitting up. I can't get it to go down.

"They are very, very painful injuries, but they are the sort of thing that can heal quickly - it is a pain tolerance thing.

"Once he regains strength and gets some swelling out that, pain killers are very, very effective. In fact, when he left the field the other night, when he went down injured, the first thought was that maybe he had dislocated his shoulder.

"When they got out there and realised it was an AC joint, the message came back that we will get him off and needle him.

"It wasn't until they got in the dressing room and started to see how limited he was that they realised it was a lot more serious."