Even siege mentality masters Manly concede the daunting circumstances they face going into Saturday’s NRL elimination final against Cronulla are “testing”.

The injury-riddled Sea Eagles on Monday lost yet another player for the match when gun forward Martin Taupau pleaded guilty to a high-tackle charge.

It means he misses just the one game, but his teammates face an uphill battle to secure the win to allow him to return in next week’s semi-finals.

Taupau joins Tom Trbojevic (pectoral), Joel Thompson (broken arm), Taniela Paseka (knee) and Toafofoa Sipley (knee) this weekend on the sideline.

Curtis Sironen is also expected to be gone for the rest of the season with a newly diagnosed foot injury, while Morgan Boyle (shoulder) and Jack Gosiewski (knee) are no certainties to return.

On top of the injury toll, the NRL had asked serious questions about whether their spiritual Brookvale home ground was safe to host the sudden-death final against the Sharks after traces of asbestos had been found. But, the league on Monday night cleared Lottoland, giving Manly at least home-ground advantage.

“We have had a lot of injuries in the last month in particular. That’s certainly not ideal coming into the finals series,” said captain Daly Cherry-Evans earlier on Monday.

“We have certainly lost some players who have had a massive impact on our season to date.

“It’s a really testing time for our playing group.

“This is where, as a player, you get challenged and, for me, it’s just a good opportunity.”

The last time Manly faced such a prospect heading into the finals was in 2010, when an injury-plagued squad were demolished 28-0 by St George Illawarra.

But Cherry-Evans insisted the Sea Eagles would use the recent setbacks to their advantage after proving doubters wrong all season under coach Des Hasler.

Among the favourites for the wooden spoon before the competition began, Manly were as high as fourth before the injury crisis began a fortnight ago and they lost their past two games.

“It’s taken a lot of attention away from us. The expectation has certainly dropped from everyone outside the Manly building,” Cherry-Evans said.

“We need to feed off that. It’s certainly a backs-against-the-wall mentality for Manly.

“The expectation wasn’t really there for us at the start of the season, and we’ve proved a lot of people wrong.

“But just to make the finals isn’t really good enough … You don’t want to just last one week.

“You want an opportunity to press as far into the finals series. That’s certainly the plan for us.”