Ben Hornby is convinced South Sydney’s game does not need to change without Latrell Mitchell, and the Rabbitohs remain hopeful their star fullback can avoid surgery.
Mitchell will miss Souths’ crucial game against Wayne Bennett’s Dolphins on Thursday night as he prepares to wear moon boots for a month due to a foot injury.
The Rabbitohs will send him back for further assessments once he has the boot off to determine if his NRL season is over, but there is hope he can return.
Interim coach Hornby confirmed on Wednesday that any decision would likely depend on whether the Rabbitohs remained in the race for the finals.
Souths are 13th in the rankings and have won five games in a row, but will still likely need to win seven of their last nine games to reach the finals.
Souths have won one of four games without Mitchell this year and three of their last 13 games without him since mid-2022.
But for now, the signs regarding Mitchell’s injury are at least positive.
“He is disappointed but in good spirits,” Hornby said.
“He doesn’t feel like it hurts too much at the moment, so he’s a little more optimistic than if it were completely gone.
“We are obviously hoping (he can avoid surgery). We can’t predict that and I’m not a doctor. We’ll see what the scan says in four weeks.”
Souths had planned for Jye Gray to wear the No.1 shirt on Thursday anyway, giving him 80 minutes at fullback in the NSW Cup last week in the expectation that Mitchell would play for NSW Origin.
Gray is 24 kg lighter than Mitchell and although he is considered an X-factor for the Bunnies, he does not have the same powerful, tough tackling style as the regular number 1.
“There will be subtle changes, but they will not be massive,” Hornby said.
“Jack (Wighton) and Cody (Walker) will continue to do most of the ballplay and he (Gray) will just play his role at the back and through the middle.”
“He’s ready to go. He’s a good young player. You’ve seen the excitement he brings to our game.”
South Sydney’s pursuit of finals places late in the season will not change Hornby’s mind about other key injuries.
He confirmed that Campbell Graham, Lachlan Ilias and Isaiah Tass would not play again this season, while Jai Arrow is scheduled to undergo long-awaited shoulder surgery on Friday.
Hornby admitted he was tempted to wait until the Rabbitohs’ season was actually over to operate on Arrow, but decided against it.
“We have to do what is best for Jai,” Hornby said.
“He’s been through it. He got injured in the first round, had a little time off and then came back. We just have to do the best we can for him.”