Titans hooker Beau Falloon will be sidelined for six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery on a dislocated wrist suffered in a training mishap on Monday.
The club's 2014 player of the year was due to return from a shoulder injury this weekend against the Rabbitohs after missing the previous two matches, but will instead return to the casualty ward for up to two months.
"It's terrible news for Beau, particularly as it was such an innocuous tackling drill," Titans coach Neil Henry said.
"He is a great trainer and had worked hard to be right to return from a shoulder injury against Souths this Saturday, so it's extremely disappointing for Beau and the team and I really feel for him."
Meanwhile Titans fullback Josh Hoffman expects to see Greg Inglis lead the Rabbitohs on to Cbus Super Stadium when the two teams meet on Saturday afternoon.
As Gold Coast players returned to training on Monday after a bye weekend in which they participated in a team camp at Casuarina before being granted a long weekend, Inglis was the subject of intense media scrutiny as to whether he would take his place for Queensland on Wednesday night.
Should he recover in time to play in the Origin Series opener – as is expected – Inglis will have less than 72 hours to prepare for South Sydney's assignment on the Gold Coast after what is sure to be another brutal interstate encounter.
While he would be grateful for Inglis' absence, Hoffman said he and the rest of the Titans will prepare as though the South Sydney skipper will be there at 3pm on Saturday.
"Me and him, personally we've had some close encounters and he's knocked me over a couple of times and it would be a big loss for Souths if he doesn't play but we'll just wait and see after the Origin," said Hoffman.
"I'm sure he'll back up and he'll bring a lot of leadership and experience. They can produce anything on the day, it's just a matter of trying to contain those superstars.
"A player like him, he's pretty hard to stop. He's got great ball skills, he's just naturally talented, he's a freak of nature and just hard to stop.
"Our job is to get as many defenders in the tackle as possible and hopefully wrestle him and limit his time and make him chase the ball."
Although much focus later in the week will centre on Inglis's availability for the Rabbitohs, the Titans are not without their own injury concerns with Falloon out and Aidan Sezer (hamstring) failing to complete the session while David Mead's hamstring injury suffered against the Sharks appears certain to rule him out for at least a week.
There is better news with regards to Mead's injury and his potential replacements with both Kevin Gordon (Burleigh) and Kalifa Faifai Loa (Tweed Heads) in good form in the Intrust Super Cup in recent weeks.
Faifai Loa is believed to be the front-runner to replace Mead having represented the Queensland Residents during the representative round but Gordon gave coach Neil Henry something to consider with a try in Burleigh's win over Mackay on Sunday.
"They've been playing really good with their respective Queensland Cup sides so we've got some great depth there in the outside backs," said Hoffman.
"Whoever comes in and does the job I'm sure they'll do a great one."
