The South Sydney Rabbitohs are hopeful that Keaon Koloamatangi has sustained no damage to his ankle after sitting out the final half hour during Thursday night's victory over the Dolphins in Brisbane.
Koloamatangi was brought from the field after an awkward tackle at the hands of Ray Stone and Kodi Nikorima, his ankle seeming to twist underneath the tackle.
Replays suggested a hint of a hip drop from Stone, although he didn't fall with his weight directly on the backs of the legs of Koloamatangi. The tackle wasn't penalised or placed on report by referee Ashley Klein after immediate consultation with the bunker while the second-rower received treatment.
Koloamatangi, who is well and truly on Brad Fittler's State of Origin radar, was sighted with his ankle in a bucket of ice at the end of the game, however, coach Jason Demetriou hinted that he may have been able to bring Koloamatangi back on if the game was close, although the star forward will need assessment on Friday.
"I don't think he is too bad," Demetriou said.
"Obviously the score was in our favour so I didn't want to risk him. We have a week to have a full turnaround so I'm pretty sure he will be okay.
"It wasn't worth pushing him, but we will assess him tomorrow and see where he is at."
Demetriou also confirmed Tevita Tatola is approaching his return from injury as the Rabbitohs approach full strength for what could be the first time this season.
"He [Tatola] has some work to do over the weekend and early next weekend but we aren't going to push him. If he isn't next week, he will definitely be the week after," Demetriou said.
"We will assess him early in the week next week and see whether he is right for Penrith. If not, he will be right to go for Brisbane the following week."
Demetriou admitted he was excited to see the Rabbitohs forward pack arrive at full strength, with a healthy competition for spots ahead given the form of players who have been in the side during the opening rounds.
"We haven't had our best 17 middles available. We get Liam Knight back too in the next couple of weeks. He will start playing some footy through reserve grade and he has been outstanding for us in his rehab," Demetriou said.
"He is another one who will bolster the pack. The guys who are there are doing a good job, so there will be some good competition for spots."
The win over the Dolphins also saw the return of Jai Arrow, with Demetriou stating that it helped the games of both Cody Walker and Damien Cook having the experienced Queensland State of Origin campaigner on the park.
"It really helped having Jai [Arrow] back tonight, and getting Junior [Tevita Tatola] back will make a big difference as well. You can see the influence Jai had on Cam [Cameron Murray] and Cookie [Damien Cook] as well. Freed those guys up a little bit so we are building the way we want to be, but we have some really tough games coming up and have some areas to improve in if we want to get the results in those," Demetriou added.
Arrow topped the run metres for South Sydney with 181 from just 16 runs. 68 of those metres came as post-contact, while the forward also made six tackle busts.
Murray, who had one of his best performances of the year in the middle with 159 metres, six tackle breaks and 34 tackles without a miss, said Arrow is the sort of player he wants to play alongside, even though he was lacking in match fitness for the Dolphins' clash.
"I love playing with him. His effort areas are so good and he works so hard for his teammates. He puts his body on the line for his teammates and he is just one of those players that you want to run out with," Murray said.
"You saw tonight that he just gave his all. He was pretty tired out there in moments. He obviously doesn't have the match fitness that the rest of us have, but he just keeps going.
"I think efforts like his and Davvy [Moale] was really good through the middle too. He is taking a step forward with his game. I think the efforts off the back of players like them give us field position and give opportunities for Cody [Walker] and Latrell [Mitchell] to ice on the back of shapes.
"It was a really good performance from those two in particular and we have a bit to improve on as well, so we will go back to the drawing board and hopefully start a bit better next week."
While Knight will start off in reserve grade, it's tipped that Tatola's return will likely see Thomas Burgess return to the bench, with one of Jed Cartwright or Daniel Suluka-Fifita dropping out of the side as the Dolphins, with Arrow also likely to start in the coming weeks after being a late demotion to the bench for the game against the Dolphins.
The Rabbitohs have an enormous clash next week against the Penrith Panthers at home, before they play the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm in the following two weeks.
