The Brisbane Broncos have suffered a scare heading into Friday night's elimination final against the Gold Coast Titans, with four of their stars failing to complete training on Tuesday.
Second row forward Alex Glenn left the session after warm-up with a groin complaint, hooker Andrew McCullough lasted only 30 minutes with ankle soreness, centre Tom Opacic didn't partake in any contact because of a shoulder injury, and prop Josh McGuire failed to even take the field after hurting his thigh on Monday.
It's less than ideal preparation for Wayne Bennett's men who go into the clash at Suncorp Stadium as heavy favourites.
Despite these setbacks, McCullough is confident he will play on Friday night, telling media that majority of players have niggling injuries at this time of year.
"I've had problems with my ankle over the last couple of weeks. It's something I've needed to manage week by week," McCullough said.
"The game on Friday is the most important thing at the moment so I'm just getting my body right for Friday.
"It's been a long year. There are certain niggling injuries that you just want to make sure you get right.
"You obviously want to train as hard as you can, but sometimes you just need to make sure you are right for the game by taking it easy.
"It's just an annoying injury. There's no structural damage. It's more just bruising. It's something I need to deal with so I'll just keep maintaining it."
McCullough has had an injury-hit year, missing five weeks this season with a hamstring injury and a broken thumb.
But with the 26-year-old confident in playing this week, all attention turns to his three teammates struggling with injury.
New Zealand international Alex Glenn lasted less than five minutes before pulling the pin on training, but remains confident he will run out for the Broncos on Friday night.
"My groin is a little bit tight. I didn't want to take the risk and make it worse at training," Glenn said.
"We're just taking precautions and looking after my body. My body has been pretty good this season so it's about keeping it that way.
"I'm not in any doubt for Friday."
It leaves two Brisbane starters unaccounted for, with McGuire and Opacic in a cloud of doubt and racing the clock to be fit.
Second-rower Sam Thaiday didn't seem too worried, describing his teammates as "sooky".
"They're all a bit sooky and carrying on a bit. I wish I could put my feet up and have a session off," Thaiday laughed.
"Semi-final football is very full on. It's played at a high intensity.
"Friday will be do or die for us so we'd rather have the boys at 100 per cent on Friday than out there at training hurting themselves."
