Josh Reynolds looks set to be asked to start at hooker for the first time in eight years as the Wests Tigers face three straight must-win games.
With Robbie Farah already sidelined, the Tigers were dealt a cruel bowl on Thursday night with replacement Jacob Liddle suffering a serious knee injury.
Liddle was due for scans on Friday, but there are already fears he has torn his anterior cruciate ligament and could even miss the start of next season.
Farah will also certainly miss next Sunday’s clash with Newcastle with his broken tibia, with the Tigers not giving up hope of the retiring veteran making a miracle comeback before season’s end.
Reynolds has not started at hooker in first grade since September 2011, when he was just a first-year player at Canterbury.
He has played there off the bench at times, but has started at five-eighth in his six reserve grade games of an injury-plagued year after last playing first grade in round seven.
“We’ll obviously have a look at that (starting with Josh),” said Tigers coach Michael Maguire.
“(Farah) has a crack in his tibia, and depending on how long that takes to heal will decide how long it takes to come back.
“Robbie has achieved quite a few things of being able to come back from injury, so you never know.”
The Tigers’ only other real option could be to play Elijah Taylor out of dummy-half, although it appears highly unlikely he would be called upon for 80 minutes.
Captain Moses Mbye will also be touch and go for the Newcastle game, after hurting his quad in last week’s loss to Canterbury.
The Tigers sat as high as eighth at the beginning of last weekend, but must likely now win all three of their last games to have any hope of playing finals.
They have winnable home games against the Knights and St George Illawarra to come, before what could still shape as a crucial last-round clash with Cronulla at Leichhardt.
“I think we knew last week and the week before (we had to win),” Maguire said.
“That’s what we need to do. We will roll up this week and have a red-hot crack at it.
“We’ve got three games and anything in this competition.”