Latrell Mitchell has had surgery on his injured knee as South Sydney attempt to double-stack his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Mitchell had been battling a knee injury before suffering a tear in the tendon of his left hamstring earlier this month, ruling him out of the NRL for eight weeks.
The Rabbitohs then confirmed on Tuesday they had taken the option of operating on his other leg -- his knee had required cortisone injections after he tweaked it in round four.
The surgery should not add to his time on the sideline, as he aims to recover before NSW's State of Origin squad assembles for Game I on June 8.
"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," Souths physio Eddie 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."
Souths will desperately want Mitchell fit for this year's finals, after having to get through the latter stage of the past two campaigns without him due to injury in 2020 and suspension in 2021.
Blake Taaffe proved a capable replacement in last year's run to the grand final and again on Good Friday against Canterbury, but in Mitchell the Rabbitohs have one of the most dynamic players in the game when fit.
