The Gold Coast Titans have suffered a double injury blow ahead of Saturday's clash with Cronulla at Cbus Super Stadium.
Skipper Kevin Proctor and winger Phil Sami have both ruled out with injury after going down in separate incidents at training on Wednesday.
Proctor (ruptured bicep) is expected to miss two matches, while Sami (dislocated shoulder) faces up to six weeks on the sidelines.
โIt is obviously disappointing when you lose any player to injury, but particularly two of our best players and two guys who had been playing some good footy,โ Titans coach Justin Holbrook told the club website.
โThe positive news is I guess that the scans came back with much better results than we had initially feared, and they will at least be back on the field relatively soon.
โThe other thing is that incidents like this provide an opportunity for other players to get a chance, so we expect the guys that are given that opportunity to make the most of it.โ
It opens the door for rookie Beau Fermor to make his NRL debut in Saturday's meeting with the Sharks.
โBeau has not put a foot wrong since coming to the Club, and has really worked hard after his knee injury to get himself ready for the NRL,โ Holbrook said.
โIn an ideal world, we would have liked to have given him an extra week, but he has been banging on the door for a while now, and was impressive in the scrimmage match last weekend against Brisbane to show he was ready to step up.โ