Despite managing to complete the Gold Coast Titans' clash against the Dolphins on Saturday evening, the club have confirmed outside back Phillip Sami has been ruled out for at least the next three weeks with a syndesmosis injury.
The ankle injury came in the first half of the game when Sami was the victim of a dangerous hip drop tackle.
The ugly tackle, which saw young Dolphins' forward Max Plath sin binned, has also seen him suspended for the next two weeks after he accepted an early guilty plea on the Grade 3 charge.
Sami immediately looked in discomfort as he attempted to get up from the injury, but managed to complete the game in what came as a surprise given the length of time he had originally remained on the ground.
The injury to Sami has seen Harley Smith-Shields come straight into the side on the wing for the Titans ahead of this weekend's clash away from home against the North Queensland Cowboys.
Sami will also miss upcoming games against the Canberra Raiders (away) and Manly Sea Eagles (home) before potentially returning against the New Zealand Warriors in Round 8.
Meanwhile, the club have also confirmed Keenan Palasia will miss a similar amount of time to Sami after suffering a quad strain at training late last week.
The injury ruled him out of the game against the Dolphins, and he is expected to miss between another two and three weeks, with the ex-Bronco having had a strong start to his time at a new club despite the struggles of the Titans, who have conceded more than 30 points per game and sit at the bottom of the ladder.
Isaac Liu, who is not named to play the Cowboys this weekend, has also been confirmed to have suffered a concussion, having failed a head injury assessment following the end of the Dolphins' clash.
That means he now enters the mandatory 11-day standown and will miss the game against the Cowboys, but should recovery go as expected, he will be back for the clash in Round 6 against the Raiders. Josiah Pahulu has been named to come onto the bench for his NRL debut.
