The Manly Sea Eagles have lost Martin Taupau in addition to Morgan Harper for Saturday evening's clash with the Gold Coast Titans as COVID works its way through the club.
Harper wasn't selected on Tuesday afternoon after suffering an infection of the virus, while Taupau was removed from the squad at the 24-hour update when Manly's squad was cut to 19 players for the match on Friday evening.
It follows Brad Parker being out of the Round 4 victory over the Canberra Raiders in Wagga Wagga.
Manly will be keeping fingers crossed that the infection will stop at Harper and Taupau, with NRL clubs thus far able to avoid having the virus decimate a playing group during the regular season.
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Most clubs saw multiple players down with coronavirus at the same time over the off-season, however, other sports have had to actively postpone games or rely on top up players to continue playing, most notably cricket's Big Bash League and basketball's National Basketball League.
There have also been early-season problems in the AFL.
The news on Taupau is a bitter pill to swallow for Manly as they shoot for their fourth straight victory. The veteran forward is now likely to miss not only this clash, but next Thursday's match in the battle of the beaches with the Cronulla Sharks.
While it's unclear exactly when Tauapau tested positive to coronavirus, the clash against the Sharks is only six days away as of Friday. Under federal government rules, individuals and their household contacts must isolate for seven days following a positive test.
Many NRL players have also reported taking a length of time to return to full fitness from COVID, meaning Taupau could well miss two games as a result of his positive test, even if he did test positive on Thursday or earlier.
Des Hasler has promoted Toafofoa Sipley in the place of Taupau, with Sipley originally outside of the 17-man side and listed amongst the reserves when teams were named on Tuesday afternoon.
The Sea Eagles clash with the Gold Coast Titans at 4 Pines Park will kick-off at 5:30pm (AEST) on Saturday evening.