The Sydney Roosters won't know until Sunday at the earliest whether Joey Manu, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Sam Verrills will play in next week's elimination final after all three went down injured in the Allianz Stadium opener.
Manu limped off with an apparent calf complaint late in Friday's 26-16 defeat of South Sydney and looms as the most significant injury blow ahead of next week's elimination final rematch.
The Roosters sent him in for scans over the weekend.
Waerea-Hargreaves (hamstring/neck) came off after the 13th minute as a precaution, with Verrills (hand) following in the second half.
The Roosters are set to provide an update on the injuries on Monday, as the Rabbitohs sweat on the availability of captain Cameron Murray and Siliva Havili, both of whom suffered concussions on Friday night.
In better news for Souths, bench forward Hame Sele has escaped suspension for his lifting tackle on Egan Butcher.
He can accept a $750 fine for his grade one dangerous throw charge but will be free to line up against the Roosters at Allianz Stadium.
Coach Trent Robinson says the Roosters' last back-to-back meetings with South Sydney can't teach them anything as they prepare for a similar turn of events to the final weeks of the 2019 season.
On that occasion, the Rabbitohs claimed victory over the Roosters in the last game before the finals series but it was to be the Tri-colours' last loss of the year.
The Roosters thrashed South Sydney 30-6 in the qualifying final a week later and went on to hoist the premiership trophy for the second time in as many years.
This time around, it will be the Rabbitohs out for revenge but Robinson said his side would not become distracted by thoughts that South Sydney could turn the tables on 2019 and stage a comeback of their own.
"That's all in the past," he said.
"You create your future and we'll create ours next week and how we want to play."
The Roosters have their fast start to thank for Friday night's victory.
The hosts ran out to a 14-0 lead after 20 minutes but were outscored by the Rabbitohs across the remainder of the contest.
"There's some improvements to be had for us," Robinson said.
"I thought we were really good for the first half, clear how we wanted to play.
"We just lost our way. We didn't execute well enough when we had field position and it just ended up being a stop-start game."
Rabbitohs coach Ben Hornby, subbing in for Jason Demetriou (COVID-19), said he doubted the Rabbitohs would need any pep talks ahead of next week's rematch.
"Motivation is never going to be a problem in the finals," he said.
"It's a finals game, we want to do well. We started on this journey a long time ago and we want to finish it in the best possible way."
