Cronulla skipper Paul Gallen has leapt to the defence of South Sydney's medical staff following the Greg Inglis' injury debate.
South are facing an early season crisis after their skipper was ruled out for up to six months with a torn ACL suffered in Friday night's 34-18 loss to the Wests Tigers.
Despite suffering the injury in the seventh minute, superstar Inglis played on until the 58th minute before being replaced, with many questioning why he'd been kept on the field so long when clearly struggling.
Souths football boss Shane Richardson has acknowledged medical staff got the knee diagnosis wrong during the match, thinking it was probably a meniscus tear, not an anterior cruciate.
Gallen recalled his own experience to illustrate how difficult it was to diagnose knee injuries immediately, without the benefit of scans.
He was wrongly told he had probably suffered a torn ACL in round one against North Queensland in Townsville last year, which could have ended his title-winning season.
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing," Gallen told the Sunday Footy Show.
"But I'll tell you one thing - it's easy to misdiagnose things.
"I remember round one last year, they told me I'd done my ACL. I had three physios and a doctor tell me I'd done my ACL and I hadn't.
"Whereas this is the exact opposite. I can't imagine the stress doctors and physios and heads of performance must be under."
With Inglis likely gone for the season, Cronulla flyer Valentine Holmes looms as a potential beneficiary with a centre spot in Queensland's State of Origin backline opening up.
Melbourne's Will Chambers, who missed the 2016 Origin series through injury, could slot into one Maroons centre spot with Dane Gagai moving in from the wing to be the other centre and Holmes a chance to debut on the wing.
Inglis' injury has plunged Souths into an early-season strife with their odds to win the title blowing out to $34 from $15 with bookmakers.
They will also remain without playmaker Adam Reynolds (appendicitis) for the next several weeks and NRL great Andrew Johns said he believed they were out of the running for the top eight.
Sam Burgess seems the logical choice to assume the captaincy while Robert Jennings and Braidon Burns, who both scored doubles for the Rabbitohs' feeder side North Sydney on Saturday, shape as potential backline replacements.
The loss of two key players means big name off-season recruit Robbie Farah could take on added playmaking responsibility in the next few weeks.
"We've got plenty of depth and whoever does step into that role, I'm sure they'll do the job," prop Jason Clark said.
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