Manly Sea Eagles five-eighth Josh Schuster is reportedly set to miss this weekend's clash with the Cronulla Sharks.
It's a sentence Manly fans are almost too used to seeing at this stage with a revolving opposition club at the end, with Schuster managing just three appearances across the first ten rounds.
After missing the season-opener, Schuster played two games against the Parramatta Eels and South Sydney Rabbitohs in Rounds 3 and 4, before missing more time. He then returned again against the Wests Tigers in Round 8, but hasn't featured since.
Head coach Anthony Seibold has said on numerous occasions now they expect Schuster to be back next week, but it's a story that continues to be repeated.
News Corp are reporting that Schuster trained with the full Manly squad for the first time in weeks on Tuesday, and while he made it through the session, he felt a slight issue with his quadriceps injury which has Manly reportedly set to sideline him again for Sunday afternoon's clash against the Sharks.
That would bring Cooper Johns back into the side yet again. Johns was signed from the Melbourne Storm over the off-season as a back-up option to Daly Cherry-Evans over the State of Origin window, but has ultimately played more games than he has missed.
The Sea Eagles have been desperate to get Schuster on the field after he spent the off-season training at five-eight in preparation to take over from Kieran Foran, who left for the Gold Coast Titans.
So keen was Schuster to get fit and understand his new role, he skipped the Rugby League World Cup so he could return to training at the same time as his teammates.
With the Origin period approaching, Manly will need Schuster on the field to play alongside Johns with Queensland Maroons captain Daly Cherry-Evans likely to miss as many as four games during the block (Round 13 before Origin 1 vs Newcastle Knights, Round 16 before Origin 2 vs Parramatta Eels, Round 17 vs Melbourne Storm on Saturday after Origin 2 and Round 20 vs North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday after Origin 3).
Schuster missing this Sunday's clash with Cronulla likely means his return will now be against the Canberra Raiders in the nation's capital during Round 12 on Sunday, May 21.
Manly are also missing Toafofoa Sipley (suspension) and Jake Trbojevic (calf) for this week's game against the Sharks.
