Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire remains hopeful scans will deliver positive news for injured stars Adam Reynolds (jaw) and John Sutton (pec) but says if he is without both for any extended period the club's depth provides plenty of options.
Reynolds left the field 60 minutes into the contest with a suspected broken jaw while Sutton left just two minutes from the final siren clutching a pectoral muscle and Maguire wasn't prepared to speculate on the severity of the injuries immediately following his side's 42-10 win.
"We'll have to take them for a scan. 'Sutto' with the pec and obviously Adam with the jaw, we'll have a scan in the next couple of days to find out the extent of those so we'll just have to wait and see."
The worst case scenario for Reynolds is a fractured jaw with a 6-8 week recovery. Sutton’s pectoral injury could be anything from a minor strain (0-2 weeks) to a rupture requiring surgery (three months or more).
Reynolds was in good humour after the win despite the possible injury, according to his coach.
"He was smiling in the change rooms if that means anything. We're looking for some positive news off the back of the scan but once again you've got to get scans until you can actually make a call on where they're at," Maguire said.
"Fortunately for us we've got some depth which we've worked really hard at at the club too. I thought there were players in the game today like [centre] Hymel Hunt, [prop] Zane Musgrove, [five-eighth] Cody Walker and [hooker] Damien Cook – first timers, they've worked throughout the pre-season to get the opportunity they did today and I thought they took it."
Of those it is the strong showing of 26-year-old debutant Walker that will be most crucial if one or both of playmaker Reynolds and playmaker-turned-second-rower Sutton are out for any length of time.
With Luke Keary and George Burgess back from suspension next week, Maguire has a readymade solution in Keary replacing Reynolds and Burgess pushing his brother Sam from prop to the back row.
"He was good, Cody. I thought his presence on the field and the way he came together with a number of changes through Adam going off and 'Sutto' had to go into the halves and it sort of made a few changes throughout the game," Maguire said.
"He just adapted and I've seen that Cody's been doing that right throughout the pre-season so it wasn't unusual to see that going on in the game, it's just the practice that he's shown throughout the pre-season and it's just transferred onto the field."
